we follow our own steps
by Dandelion-san
Summary: The adventures of Tsuna and his tutor, Reborn, who really should have been born a demon. AU R27 (or in which Tsuna is an undemonic demon and Reborn the very demonic angel)
1. Chapter 1

_1 : the demon_

* * *

The problem was that Tsunayoshi is too kind.

He is small with large eyes that are too expressive for their own good. He cries easily, gets frightened easily, and in a crowded room, his presence is diminished to a small timid thing. He brings home strays, trips over his own feet, and is generally a good-natured person with nothing but the best intentions.

This wouldn't normally be a problem and these traits would usually be considered endearing.

That is if he weren't a demon living in Hell.

(And for him, life literally is hell, pun intended)

So when Tsunayoshi gets roughed up from the bigger demons, when he is cruelly taunted and mercilessly bullied, he secretly wishes he were born an angel instead. Useless Tsuna. The demon that should have been an _angel_, word spat out like a dirty, blasphemous curse by the whispering denizens of Hell. But if he were an angel, his existence would have been accepted (maybe, maybe not).

Tsunayoshi looks at pictures of angels, sometimes, in the castle's library. He has never seen an angel in real life before, most demons haven't. It is usually the upper echelon or soldiers that has the opportunity, but he thinks he would like to see one, just once. Their wings look so beautiful, after all. He looks at mirrors and wonders what it would be like to have soft shining feathers curled up at his back instead of the dark leathery wings with jutting bones. It's hard to imagine. Despite Tsunayoshi's unusually soft appearance, angels are holy and Tsuna is anything but, with eyes too gold and slitted, small horns poking from his hair, nails a little too clawed, and not to mention the long thin tail usually drooping behind him, like a lion's.

But sometimes he wonders. Sometimes.

* * *

When Tsunayoshi was much _much_ younger, he often took walks with Brother. Brother would hold his hand tightly and talk about his plans for him with a pleasant smile and excited air, as he exclaimed of what he would someday do.

"You will be strong, Tsunayoshi! When your abilities kick in, you will have the power to take down a fleet of angels and make humans beg at your feet," Brother babbled. "You will always be by my side, of course. I will be commander and you can be my lieutenant."

Tsunayoshi's eyes watered and timidly tugged at their linked hands. "But Brother," he said. "I dun wanna be strong."

Brother had stopped walking and blinked down at him. "Why?" he asked.

"Because I dun wanna hurt anyone."

Brother had gaped. "…But why?" he asked again, genuinely bewildered.

(There was always something about Tsuna)

* * *

Tsunayoshi really doesn't want to hurt anyone. He cannot imagine even doing so for the thought would bring him to tears. But he changes his mind about being strong. He wants to at least gain some qualities that would redeem him in the eyes of others, especially in Brother's, who looks at him with an unreadable face and thin lips. Giotto doesn't talk to Tsunayoshi as much as before, and Tsuna aches with loneliness. He misses his brother intensely and wants to make him proud. He is so, so alone.

So Tsunayoshi strives as hard as he can, and each time he fails epically, usually leaving him locked in his room or scolded.

Giotto's friends really don't know what to think of him. And Tsuna doesn't know what Giotto thinks at all.

* * *

The latest stunt has a beat up Tsuna dragged into the castle to the main study room by an angry Alaude, and in front of a coldly furious Brother. Alaude is sent away and when the doors close shut, his shoulders are grabbed.

"_What were you thinking,_" Giotto hisses, clenching tighter. His nails are digging in, almost breaking skin. Tsunayoshi whimpers and tries to keep still.

"I thought I wanted to try catching an Aetherion Eagle," he gasped out. "I could do it. I _can_ do it! I just finished setting up some traps when I accidently tripped and set one off and it heard me, but I swear – "

"ENOUGH," his brother roars, his large wings flaring out in anger. "Just stop, _stop! _Stop it with your ideas and your inane quests. I am tired of cleaning up after your messes; do you not know what the others say about you?!" Giotto shakes him. "You _can't _do it, and if you continue on like this, you will end up _dead. _Dead! Do you think I want that? So there is nothing for you to prove, _nothing, _otherwise you are just an embarrassment to yourself and me!"

There is sudden silence inside the study except for the sound of Giotto's harsh breathing and Tsunayoshi's hitched breath.

_Just an embarrassment_.

The words ring out and he clenches his hands tight by his side, bowing his head down. He cannot bear to look at Giotto right now. Tears spring up to his eyes but he grits his teeth and they do not fall.

As if realizing what he just said, Giotto's eyes widen, and then narrow. He lets go of Tsunayoshi's shoulders and his hands hover with some hesitance before falling to his sides.

"Go – go to your room," he said finally with a trace of uncertainty. Tsunayoshi doesn't take the time to ponder and leaves.

* * *

Tsunayoshi skips dinner that night. Nobody comes up to look for him and that is fine. But he lies in his bed and thinks.

_I need to get better_, he knows this with clarity. _I must get better. Not because of Brother, but because I am weak and mixed up and I'm at the end of the rope here. I have to find my own strength._

But how? Giotto does not like to let him leave the castle without some sort of escort. He can barely fight, for no teacher stays long.

_I don't have any experience. Brother won't let me._ Tsunayoshi understands that he will not become stronger where he is at.

There is a calmness, a heat deep within him that lets his thoughts run smooth and clear like a deep river. It guides them and his emotions become serene.

_I have to leave._ He thinks on this and nods. Impulsive as the decision may be, but it is right. He knows this.

* * *

He goes quietly in the night with a pack and traveling cloak, and leaves a note.

It wouldn't be found until three days later when Giotto mucks up the courage to go to his room and apologize.

* * *

_I have decided to go on a journey to find myself. _

_Sorry for the trouble and don't look for me._

_-T_

* * *

Giotto screams and Tsuna's room explodes.

(And somewhere, Tsuna shudders with a sudden chill. A bad omen, he decides and then forgets those thoughts when Reborn starts to shoot at him. "Run demon, _run!" _"HIEEE!")

* * *

_a/n: A little serious at the beginning, but this is a light-hearted story. also, line breaks are the bane of my existence. This is inspired by the book Good Omens and some of the move How to Train Your Dragon.  
_


	2. Chapter 2

_2 : the angel_

* * *

Reborn was the first angel Tsuna met, which promptly broke his mind on everything Tsuna thought he knew about them.

Tsuna heard a lot about angels. Most of it was propaganda, of course, of _goody-two-shoes _and _annoying_ and _community service. _Well, historically, angels and demons have never had the best relationship with each other anyways.

Giotto's books had pictures of them, not real pictures, but paintings done by human hand since they were human books.

The painted angels were life-like, and they were very lovely paintings. They were beautiful, all muscles and bronze skin. Their appearance was cherubic and genial, surrounded by golden light, and sometimes their expressions were of holy rage, flaming sword raised to smite punishment upon sinners. But usually, their expressions were of warmth and joy, singing or flying or dancing, watching over humans with protective gazes, beautiful white wings spread out.

* * *

"Well now. What is a _demon_ doing on _my_ territory…?" The angel's voice was very rich and deep, full of dark undertones. Tsunayoshi gulped, but he couldn't move even if he tried. The other, who had him pinned to the ground by his wrists with one hand – the other wrapped around his throat, gave him a very threatening leer. "To be out in the open like this… you must have a death wish."

Tsuna whimpered. What kind of angel was he?!

The hand around his throat moved up to pat his cheek. "I'm not your usual angel," Reborn said. Obviously! What kind of angel wore a fedora and a decidedly Mafioso looking outfit?

"Me, that's who. Why? Because I am amazing."

_Stop reading my mind! You arrogant spawn of evil!_

"Humph, you're a cheeky one, aren't you? So pathetic. I wouldn't think you were a demon if it weren't for your taint."

Tsuna almost regretted running away from home. Almost.

* * *

It had been surprisingly easy to sneak past the demons guarding Hell's borders. From there, it was only a hop into the transportation circle, selecting a random destination, and then everything went downhill from there.

The portal landed Tsuna somewhere in a country called _Italia_.

Barely five minutes later, he was whisked away by an unangelic angel who dressed like a Mafioso and burned with Holy Aura so powerful that Tsuna was almost knocked out by his presence alone (not to mention, it was his first time encountering something like that). Thankfully, the other suppressed it enough that the most it gave Tsuna was some uncomfortable prickliness. Unfortunately, he was still caught and now pinned down to a very dirty ground in a very dirty alleyway in a dirty part of town where nobody would come to help if he screamed. Or if he died. Not that anyone would be able to do anything, but still!

(Tsuna didn't really have to worry about being killed. The angel had just gotten curious when he caught the scent of the demon in his town. His curiosity soared even higher when he saw Tsuna who looked more like a cute little animal then a demon)

* * *

"I am Reborn, the Strongest Angel in the World," Reborn announced. He paused and stared down expectantly. Tsuna stared fearfully back into his dark eyes. The silence lasted for ten seconds before the angel sighed and rolled his eyes. "Your _name_, demon?"

Tsuna flinched and his eyes widened even further. "O-oh! Er, it's Tsunayoshi," he managed to squeak out.

Reborn nodded. "No-Good Tsuna it is then." He looked Tsuna over and scoffed. "You really are weak. _Unacceptable!_"

The sharp tone caused Tsuna to flinch. "W-what?"

"What kind of demon stutters? What kind of demon doesn't fight back?" Reborn demanded. "You're an embarrassment to your kind, you know. In fact, I feel embarrassed just looking at you."

_Just an embarrassment._

Giotto's voice rung out in his head and Tsuna whispered, "Yeah, I know."

"WRONG!" Reborn slapped his face with his free hand. Hard. Tsuna's mouth opened in astonishment. "You're a demon, act like it. When someone insults you, you bite their heads off! Not that you could bite mine off anyways."

"Hiee, b-bite? But that's disgusting!"

"Too bad. Now answer my question. What are you doing here?"

* * *

"So you ran away from home?"

"Don't say it like that! It makes me feel so childish!"

"Isn't it? You broke international law and several treaties because you got mad at your brother."

Tsuna glared at Reborn. The angel had let him go a few minutes ago, and he had scrambled back as far as he could before he pressed back into the alley wall. Reborn still stood, towering over him, eyes gleaming. Tsuna clutched at his tail like a security blanket.

"Are you going to turn me in?" he asked warily. Reborn grinned a very evil grin.

"I'm going to do something even better," he cackled. "I will turn you, a no-good demon, into a true devil. From now on, call me your tutor."

"BUT WHY," Tsuna wailed.

Nothing about Reborn made sense!

(Although the truth was, the angel was just bored and also couldn't stand the sight of a demon that trembled at his own shadow)

* * *

And that was how Reborn and Tsuna met.


	3. Chapter 3

_a/n: Um, I'd like to apologize. This was supposed to be done, oh about two weeks ago, but then final exams hit me and... ;_; On the plus side, I am finally done with school! I graduate officially on Tuesday. I'm very excited (so looking forward to college!). _

_I'd like to take the time to say that I don't mean to offend anyone with my liberal use of religion here. This is for entertainment purposes and I'm not trying to push any views. Also, sorry for any OOCness. Ah, but I'm working on some fanart for my own story (hahaI'msuchaloser) so um, please look out for that. :D_

* * *

Once upon a time, there was a war. It was a war so bad that it had spanned an entire world and spilled over to another. When it ended, a third was created, a world for those fallen outcasts.

Once upon a time, there was curiosity and all-consuming jealousy and rage. Once upon a time, there was rebellion.

It ended with fire and hatred.

* * *

_3: namimori_

* * *

There is an accord between Heaven and Hell. Well, there are several – international laws, treaties, border patrols, those kinds of things – but there is _the _accord. The Truce. The arrangement made to have some sort of order and it is followed for the most part. There's a lot of official spiel in it, but the basic premises go like this:

-Angels and demons are not to interfere directly with each other.

-Angels and demons must not interfere directly with humans (ever heard of the shoulder angel/demon theory?)

-They must not be directly out in the open.

-Demons are not to harm those souls of humans not undeserving.

Well, the last part is a little iffy, and there are a couple loopholes that many demons use to try to corrupt humans, but angels are there to help protect them. At any rate, The Truce has been working alright for years now so. _So_.

(What is so special about humans anyways?)

* * *

"Here, put this ring on," said Reborn, a few hours after their meeting, and handed Tsuna a silver ring with etchings of sharp lines and circles. Tsuna looked at it curiously and put it on. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, in pain, with a bruised shin.

"You kicked me," he said stunned. "You – you _kicked _me."

Reborn prodded him with the tip of his very expensive shoe. "Stupid," he scoffed. "You shouldn't trust your enemy so easily. What if it was something that killed you?"

"But you weren't going to hurt me!"

"Oh?" A gun appeared in Reborn's hand and he leaned down to press it against Tsuna's head. "And how would you know?"

Tsuna gulped and tried to shrink away. "I-i-intuition," he stuttered in a very small voice. There was a dangerous look on the angel's face.

He was smiling. It was not a nice smile.

* * *

The problem with angels and demons is that they are a species that are constantly at each other's throats. The Truce was there to prevent the balance from tipping and plunging the universe back into an all-scale-all-out war.

But the thing is, it's almost impossible for them to hide from each other for each had their own distinctive sense. Auras.

Angels had their holiness that is able to harm demons if not careful. Demons had their own, the _taint,_ as some angels call it with a sneer. With enough experience, both were able to suppress it, but they could not hide it. It was always there, burning under their skin. For some reason, demons aren't able to hurt angels with their Auras, although it did make some feel uncomfortable depending on whom.

It's not really surprising when you think about it though. After all, demonic Auras are descended from the twisted and corrupted Grace of angels.

* * *

The etched symbols were familiar to Tsuna's mind and he pondered this, rolling it over in his mind. He thought back to his books - and that is when the proverbial light bulb lit up. "Shrouding ring," he realized with a gasp. He looked at his ring with awe. "But those are so rare!"

"You figured it out?" Reborn chuckled. "Good. If you understand…" His eyes narrowed as he grabbed Tsuna's head and glared down at him, eye-to-eye, and too close for comfort.

"_Don't lose it_," he hissed to a twitching Tsuna.

Shrouding rings were possibly the only items in existence that were able to hide Auras. They were extremely hard to come-by, extremely hard to make, and virtually impossible to find anyone that has enough power and knowledge to create them. Reborn merely gave a twisted smile when Tsuna timidly asked where he got his from.

* * *

As Reborn explained to Tsuna, his arrival on Earth did not go unnoticed. The shrouding ring was able to hide him now, but it didn't erase the knowledge of his presence on neutral territory nor the fact that he broke a few interworld laws. The ring was his life-line now, don't take it off, so says Reborn and Tsuna solemnly nodded along. They had to leave Italy.

"It's a little too crowded to tutor you peacefully in this country, anyways," Reborn said with a helpless shrug.

"'_Tutor,' _he says, _'peacefully,'_ he says," Tsuna muttered and Reborn kicked him again.

* * *

And so Tsuna fell in love with Japan.

He fell in love with the culture, the language, the food, the landscape. Japan was him, he decided. He shared a name with one of its shogun. He even looked a lot similar to its people.

Reborn didn't mind. Japan was a weird country that they would fit right in. Tsuna would just be seen as a cosplayer, perfect for _teaching _him how to hide his otherworldly attributes.

Tsuna suddenly shivered.

* * *

It took two weeks for Tsuna to learn how to tuck away his wings and hide his horns. It took the rest of the month (dodging holy bullets, running like hell, trying to hide in the city) to learn to hide his tail and dim his eyes to a more human-like brown-ish/amber-ish color. His tail still had the tendency to poof back when he was stressed or excited, but it was progress.

Tsuna had long resigned himself with a future full of bullets and hard training. Meanwhile, Reborn was having the time of his life. ("Do fifty more push-ups," he said, cleaning his gun and Tsuna whined in dismay).

* * *

Eventually, the quiet peaceful town of Namimori found itself with two new residents – a handsome young foreigner and a short teenager.

_How exciting,_ some of the neighbors gossiped as the foreigner stood around watching the furniture being moved in one of the empty two-story homes. The women giggled at his features and cooed at the boy's. Nobody really wondered about their relationship or how strange they seemed.

_I apologize greatly, _Tsuna thought miserably for he knew Namimori would not be quiet or peaceful any longer. He also wondered where Reborn got the money for the expensive furniture (they sure didn't have that couch back in Tokyo), and then tried not to think about it because he was almost a hundred percent sure now that Reborn could read minds.

Yet…. Tsuna smiled. He still wasn't sure why Reborn was so determined to make him strong or even why he was bothering to try. But for the first time in a long time, Tsunayoshi was not so lonely.

Reborn frowned at the smile spreading across his face and swatted his head. "Stop that, it's creepy," he ordered.

_Great, way to ruin the moment there._ "Ow! _Would you stop reading my mind?_!"

* * *

Namimori was great. It had a lot of shops, oblivious neighbors, and a beautiful forest.

A big, beautiful forest. Quite nice. And isolated. Very important that. After all, it was hard to get things done in the city when your companion was a demon who looked like he should be in middle school (or high school – supernatural beings were funny like that, it can be extremely hard to tell their age).

Reborn closed his eyes and sighed peacefully as he leaned against a tree, legs splayed out in front of him. His fedora was over his eyes, blocking the sun. Nature was great. Trees were great. The sound of Tsuna's screams was a little grating, but it fed his sadistic urges.

"HELP," the demon shrieked. Tsuna was tangled up in a rope that was tied to the tallest branch several trees over, with neat metal spikes under him. The branches underneath were cleared out of the way so it was a straight drop down… and the rope was being frayed apart somehow by each couple of minutes that passed. Tsuna continued to wail out pleas to be let down.

"You've almost got it," Reborn called back, sleepily.

A pause. Then, "…You're not even looking, Reborn! Let me down, I can't even draw out my wings! …Reborn? Are you sleeping? Reborn! THE ROPE THE ROPE, it's _breaking_, _WAKE UP_!"

Reborn smiled wickedly under his hat as he fake-snored loudly.

Yup, Namimori was _wonderful._


	4. Chapter 4

_4:_

_part i. wings_

* * *

Life fell into a kind of routine after a few weeks. Wake up, train, eat, sleep, rinse-wash-repeat.

Wake up to Reborn's weird shape-shifting lizardchameleonwhatever (gun, hammer, rock?), tortured under his bizarre tactics that he called training, eat Tsuna's cooking (Reborn, that bastard, always pushed the task to him), and finally pushed to coma-like exhaustion at the end of the day. And throughout it all, he was teased endlessly. Reborn's favorite new word seemed to be _dame; _get up _dame-_Tsuna, run faster _dame-_Tsuna, do-it-with-your-dying-will _dame-_Tsuna! He was so ready to tear his hair out.

It wasn't too bad, honestly. Some days, they would sit together at the back porch, tea and snacks between them with comfortable silence or small conversations in the air. In those kinds of lethargic days, Reborn would take the opportunity to stretch out his wings, messy as they are, with feathers flying everywhere. It was embarrassing, but Tsuna knew that Reborn pretended not to know about the collection of those fallen feathers that he liked to keep in a box under his bed. It stung his fingers a little to pick them up at first with trace amounts of Grace still clinging to them, but Tsuna liked them for their softness and the fact that they were so pretty (also that they were a part of Reborn and despite Tsuna's terrified complaints, he is grateful and there is a growing feeling of fondness for the other – he is a sentimental type of person).

He supposed it was fair though. After all, Reborn knew that Tsuna pretended not to know about the stack of shoujo manga that the angel kept under _his _bed. Or the cosplay clothes in his closet.

(It was more like silenced with the threat of death)

* * *

It was actually one of those days when Tsuna mucked up the courage to ask Reborn if he could groom his wings. He shyly fidgeted when he was pinned with an intense but unreadable gaze. Reborn looked at him for a couple of very long seconds.

Face a fire-engine red, Tsuna blurted out, "I mean, just look at them – they're so messy! When is the last time you groomed them? Your feathers stick out everywhere and some of them are even broken."

When Reborn didn't say anything, he continued to babble on. "One of Brother's – nii-sama's – friends has feathered wings, only they are red like wine and a little smaller. G lets me groom his wings sometimes and I've gotten pretty good at it so I won't mess them up, I swear, well I don't think I will, your wings are not too different from his anyways –"

Reborn placed a hand on top of his head and he stilled, shutting up abruptly.

"Okay," he said.

Tsuna blinked. "O…kay?" he repeated, disbelievingly, and then his face shifted as he started to smile, bright and happy. "O-okay! Turn around, Reborn. Um, can you also suppress your Aura a little? My skin is prickling." Reborn obliged, still a little too quiet, but Tsuna's nervous chatter filled the silence.

It wasn't as if he was wary of turning his back. Tsuna was not that kind of person, as Reborn had come to find out. It was just that when Tsuna had asked his question, Reborn had to stop himself from reeling in surprise. He hadn't meant for his wings to get so messy. It wasn't really Tsuna's fault either. How could he have known? Demon culture was different, after all, and Tsuna's wings were different.

In Heaven, angels groom each other's wings in friendship or love. It was one of those social things, a kind of intimate gesture of good-will and _I-trust-you-so-trust-me-too _kind of deal.

And it was the first time anyone had willingly touched Reborn's wings.

* * *

"Here, all done!" Tsuna's cheerful voice jerked Reborn awake with a grunt, a couple of hours later. Surprised, Reborn wondered when he had fallen asleep.

Yawning, he stretched his wings out beside him and flexed them. The feathers looked sleek and neat, unlike before when it was rumpled and messy. "Not bad," he said with a twitch of his lips.

Tsuna rolled his eyes. "_Not bad_? That's it? I think I did a pretty damn good job, considering what a mess they were in earlier."

Reborn turned a closed-eyed smile on him. "What was that?"

Giggling, Tsuna raised his hands in surrender. "I'm kidding! I'll take whatever compliment I can get."

The ease at which the demon spoke to him made Reborn inwardly frown. He actually showed his displeasure when he noticed the little red burns on Tsuna's fingers.

"Stupid," he scolded, grabbing his hands and turning them over. "You should have stopped."

Tsuna shrugged. "I didn't actually notice," he admitted. He smiled up at him, giving Reborn's hands a squeeze. "Thanks, though! I'll go get some salve."

As Tsuna trudged up the stairs for the burn cream, Reborn dropped his hands to his lap and stared at them.

(Since when had he started caring so much?)

* * *

_part ii. half-breed_

* * *

Hayato Gokudera was a bastard of both worlds.

Born to an exorcist of a noble clan and to a demon, he had been ostracized and rejected his whole life.

He lived with his mother for the first few happy years of his life in Hell. He learned piano from her, and although it was hard, he could bear with rejection from the others because of her. Strange for demons, Lavina was gentle and kind, and tried to nurture his human side. She was also very sick, for an immortal. Frail from the start, little Hayato's birth had taken a toll on her and her illness got worse. Then, when Hayato was four, she died.

He was taken in by his human relatives, but his situation didn't improve. The lady of the family could not bear to look at him because of the shame, and his father always looked regretful and lost (Hayato did not know until much later, but his father had fallen deep in love with Lavina and vice-versa). His older sister loved him, but an incident with some holy water and cooking made him sick in her presence. The other exorcists condemned him and the oblivious humans rejected him (he was too violent, too dark, too _different_).

Hayato was not accepted and he knew this.

* * *

"It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Reborn grunted, face a picture of annoyance. He was sitting outside a café in Italy with his companion, a newspaper in his hands.

"Kora! Are you listening to me?!" Colonello snapped his fingers in front of Reborn's face and Reborn barely refrained from snapping back at them. With his teeth.

"Ah yes. Hello-Colonello-it-has-been-a-long-time. How-have-you-been?" Reborn said monotonously. He lifted his newspaper higher in front of his face, occasionally bringing his hand forward to sip at his coffee.

Colonello's left eye twitched at the obvious snub. He slammed his hand down in the middle of the paper, ripping it. "Seriously, kora? You go off to who-knows-where and with no contact with any of us and this is your reaction! Where have you been anyways? Shirking off your responsibilities, Reborn?"

Reborn's threw a dangerous glare at the other. "Just here and there," he gritted out, hand clenched tight around the handle of his coffee cup. He narrowed his eyes even further as the other angel continued to scold him. "_Shut up,_ you hypocrite. What the hell do you want? You never cared before what I did."

Colonello slumped back in his seat. "It's about that demon a few months ago!" he wailed, covering his eyes. "We've been getting hammered for that, kora!"

"Oh, yeah. That." Reborn casually sipped his coffee, with an innocent expression.

"We scoured around for a little, but its Aura just completely vanished! Are you sure you haven't seen anything around?"

"Who knows? I left this country around that time. Maybe it died."

The blond angel sighed. "Yeah, that's probably logical. Or it went home, but I dunno. I have this feeling, especially with some recent events…" He threw a suspicious look at Reborn. "You never said why you left Italy, kora."

"A little side project," Reborn replied with a smirk. He wondered how Tsuna was doing, back in Japan. He had left abruptly after all, when the call came in.

Colonello felt a little shiver at the smirk. "Right," he said slowly. "Well, I need you to stay a while. Things have been a little chaotic among the demons, kora."

Reborn frowned. "What do you mean?"

"We're not sure," Colonello said with a helpless shrug. "But something's happened in Hell, some sort of ruckus, but the demons aren't talking." He clasped his hands in front of him. "Come on," he begged. "I have a date with Lal riding on this!"

"I'm not helping you for that." Reborn downed the rest of the coffee. "But I'm curious of what you just said. Fine, I'll stay."

In the meantime, he might as well find a phone for Tsuna. The lack of communication was irritating him.

* * *

_A black mass of shadows searches the air. As it rolled along the street, the lights stuttered and blinked. Where… where…. Ah there. Its prey could try to hide, but not from it. Not from its superior nose and senses. The shadow snuffled around before roaring at the night sky. _

_Its destination was east._

* * *

Namimori wasn't too bad, Hayato Gokudera – exorcist-for-hire – decided. A little too peaceful for his liking, but not too bad.

Hardly a place where you think a demon was hiding.

He grinned. Not for long. He might have only been fifteen years old, but Hayato was a professional.

* * *

Tsuna hated to admit it.

He was bored.

It had only been three days since Reborn left on his trip. He rolled over on the couch and groaned. He couldn't believe it. He actually missed the devil – I mean angel. His training was hellish, but at least it was something to _do._ Speaking of training… Tsuna sat up with a panicked gasp. When Reborn came back and noticed that Tsuna hadn't done _anything _while he was gone…

Tsuna was out the door, wearing a track suit, running.

He accidently bowled over a silver haired boy, wearing a priest outfit.

"Sorry!" he said, holding out a hand.

"Watch where you're going," the human snarled in accented Japanese, batting away his hands. He stood up, brushing dirt off his pants. He sneered down at Tsuna. "Pathetic," he muttered and stalked away.

Tsuna stood there frozen. _Was that…G…? _He shook his head. Nah, impossible. Lack of contact with his brother was probably getting to him. He started jogging again.

He didn't notice the shadow following after him.

* * *

Predictably, Tsuna got lost in the Namimori forest. It was dark and somehow he lost the trail. He was curled up at the base of a tree, slamming his head back.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," he chanted as he thunked his head. "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stu- "

Something growled.

Tsuna stopped and cautiously stood up. "H-hello?" he called out. The trees shook. There was something like the smell of sulfur and electricity in the air, and fear was starting to swell. The wind blew and the scent of a hell-animal reached his nose.

"Okay," Tsuna squeaked and ran. The creature followed.

(There are two types of demons. The sentient kind, descended from the Fallen – most of the population. Then there were the others, formed by hate and darkness – cliché as it was. I guess you could say that they were the equivalent of animals – the ones that caused the most trouble for humans and exorcists and angels)

* * *

Hayato had tracked the demon to the forest when someone ran into him and landed on top of him. Groaning, he rubbed his head and looked down at his chest to large panicked eyes.

"You," he growled. "Aren't you from this morning? What the hell are you doing here?"

The boy whimpered and scrambled off, lifting Hayato to his feet with surprising strength. "You need to run," he whispered. "There's something out there."

That 'something' roared behind him and Hayato hissed, "Demon." The boy tensed when Hayato took out his cross and dynamite. "Stay behind me," he ordered. "I'm an exorcist."

"Shit," the boy said.

"Lord, bless this holy hand grenade," Hayato yelled and threw his dynamite. The bushes exploded.

The boy gaped. "Grenade - Are you _serious_?!" he shrieked.

Hayato glared. "It's a good blessing," he snapped.

"But _Monty Python_?! And that was dynamite you just threw!"

"It's a great movie, don't judge me!"

He was cut off when something stepped out in front of them. Something dark and dangerous. "I think you made it mad," the boy whispered.

Hayato sighed, "Just my luck," grabbed the boy's arm and ran.

"My name's Tsunayoshi by the way," Tsuna panted out, trying not to stumble over the rocks and various foliage in their way. "Call me Tsuna."

"Hayato Gokudera or Gokudera Hayato as you people say," Hayato said.

"Are you really an exorcist?"

"Stop talking, you're distracting me!"

The demon chasing them jumped over their heads and landed in front of them. It turned around, bright red eyes shining out sinisterly. Something dripped down from what they assumed was its mouth. It sizzled on the ground and burned the leaves there.

Hayato got out his dynamite, but the thing was fast – faster than any demon he had encountered – and the next thing he knew, he was flying through the air, slamming against a tree. He groaned, disorientated, and watched panicked as the thing went for Tsuna.

"Shit," he swore. He didn't want to do this. He called up on his demonic side.

With a roar, Hayato's green eyes went bright and slitted, his nails became sharp, and his canines lengthened. He launched himself at the demon with a snarl, grappling with the thing, and kicked it away. He grabbed Tsuna who was staring at him with surprise. He tried not to let it bother him.

"It's coming after us," Tsuna gasped with wide eyes.

"It wants you," Hayato grunted. "Why?" They ran faster. With a growl, he looked back and snapped his fingers. The ground rocked as several explosions filled the air.

"Stop!" Tsuna yelled, but it was too late. The path in front of them suddenly gave out to a sharp drop and they fell, screaming.

"FUUUUCK," Hayato screamed, still clutching at Tsuna. "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? A FUCKING CLIFF?! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS, A FUCKING MOVIE!" He looked up and flipped the bird at the sky. "I can't believe I'm going to die like this. SO FUCK YOU, BIG MAN, FUCK YOU."

"Right," Tsuna said calmly and released his human form. It was Hayato this time who watched in amazement as Tsuna – _a demon –_ released his wings and his true form. Hayato garbled in surprise as Tsuna glided them over the trees in search of a clearing.

"You're a demon!"

"And you're a half-blood. Trust me, I was just as surprised as you," Tsuna said wryly. He smiled kindly. "You're not dying today, Gokudera-kun. So don't be too mad at God."

Hayato blushed.

* * *

They crashed hard in an open area. Exhausted, Tsuna glanced over at the exorcist next to him. "Sorry, Gokudera-kun," he apologized. "But you're kinda heavy."

Hayato groaned. "I think my bruises have bruises."

For some reason, that was incredibly funny to Tsuna. He burst out into hysterical laughter, holding his stomach. After a while, Hayato started to laugh along with him.

"My mother was a demon," Hayato said after calming down. He didn't know why he was sharing his life story, but he somehow felt safe with Tsuna. "My father took me in after she died, but they were an exorcist family so you can imagine how that went. Well, I became an exorcist myself, but I've never really stuck with one particular group."

Tsuna giggled. "I'm not much of a demon," he confessed. "I got bullied a lot and I ran away from Hell a few months ago after I got yelled at by my brother. I've been hiding out here since."

"Seriously? I don't know much about Hell laws, but I'm pretty sure that's illegal."

"Eh," Tsuna shrugged. "Broke a couple of laws. Just another reason why I can't go home yet."

There was some silence between them. And then, "You never answered my question earlier. Why that demon was chasing you."

"I have a theory about that," Tsuna started to say, but he was then interrupted when the demon from earlier landed in the clearing with them with a growl. They scrambled to their feet and Hayato pulled out his dynamite.

"Damnit!" he cursed.

"Wait," Tsuna protested, and pushed his arm out. He stepped forward.

"What are you doing?" Hayato hissed.

"Just wait!" Tsuna put his arms out. "Who's a good boy," he cooed. Hayato looked at him like he lost his mind. The hell-animal growled and stepped forward.

"Are you _nuts?_"

Tsuna grinned. "No, but he is!" He put his arms out wider, in welcoming position. "Natsu! C'mere, boy!"

The demon bounded forward and the shadows that were clinging to it rolled off to reveal… a lion.

A really small lion.

"Gao!" Natsu jumped into Tsuna's arms, purring and rubbing his head under his chin.

"Aww, did you miss me? Did you miss me? I missed you, you little fur ball. How could you scare me like that? What if you got hurt, you silly thing," Tsuna crooned and kissed his nose.

"What the hell," Hayato muttered.

Tsuna turned to him with a warm smile. "I didn't notice at first, until you mentioned it… I thought it was strange when he was coming for me, but then I realized it was just Natsu!" He turned his attention back to the lion with a squeal.

"_Brother must have sent you,_" he said in Enochian and pressed another kiss to the lion's snout. "_But you'll keep me a secret for a little longer, right Natsu?" _

Natsu licked Tsuna's cheek and purred.

* * *

"How am I supposed to explain this," Hayato sighed as he walked Tsuna home. They managed to find the trail back to the town and Tsuna was back in his human form. "Natsu appeared in Italy at first, alerting a church, and they hired me to hunt him down. He looked pretty powerful."

"He _is _powerful, but he won't hurt anyone," Tsuna said cheerfully, arms swinging. After another cuddle session, Natsu had gone back to Hell. It had been really good to see him again.

Hayato stopped and turned to look at Tsuna. "Natsu was wearing the Vongola emblem." His head was bowed, his face shadowed.

Tsuna blinked up at him, innocently. "Yeah?"

"You saved my life, even though I treated you disrespectfully."

"Well, yeah, but I couldn't just let you fall –"

"It doesn't bother you that I'm a half-breed?"

Tsuna frowned. "Should it? And I really don't think you should belittle yourself like that, Gokudera-kun. Honestly, _half-breed_ like you're some kind of animal –"

Hayato grabbed his hands with sparkling eyes. "I'll follow you forever!" he shouted.

"Huh." Tsuna twitched. _How did this escalate so fast…_?

"I heard that the youngest Vongola was a bit of a loser, but I see that's not true!"

"Now just wait a minute –"

"I see you have had your hardships too!" Hayato teared up. "Tsuna-sama!"

And somewhere inside, Tsuna's Intuition said that his normal life of routine just shattered to itty bitty pieces…

* * *

"I was gone five days," Reborn said dully.

Tsuna twitched from where he was seated on the couch, Hayato pressed up next to him. "Who are you?" he snarled, hands on his dynamite. Reborn ignored him.

"_Five days_," he repeated.

"Is this person bothering you, Tsuna-sama?" Hayato asked his boss. Tsuna shook his head.

"No, Gokudera-kun, that's Reborn… my, uh, tutor. Um, he's an angel."

Hayato had already dropped his dynamite and was bowing, head to the floor. "My sincere apologies!" he groveled. "I didn't realize you were the greatest archangel, Reborn!"

"_Archangel?!"_ Tsuna shrieked.

Hayato turned to him with an admiring smile. "Tsuna-sama, to think you have befriended _the _Reborn. As expected of a Vongola!"

"_Vongola!_" Reborn hissed with shock. For once, his face truly expressed his surprise.

Oblivious, Hayato continued to sing Tsuna's praises as the two stared at each other.

"You're an archangel," Tsuna said weakly.

"You didn't tell me you were Vongola," Reborn growled.

"I didn't think it was important!"

"_Important?_ Dame-Tsuna, your brother is the _king of hell_."

Things just got complicated.

* * *

_a/n: In my mind, I picture Hell in this story as very similar to Hell in the manga Beezlebub (I love that manga). Stay tuned for next time for the accidental contract between demon and human!  
_

* * *

EXTRA:

"By the way, Tsuna-sama, Reborn…" They were seated at the dinner table, waiting for food. Reborn was sipping at some coffee, Hayato some tea.

"What is it, Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna asked, as he stirred some noodles in a pot with a spoon.

"Are you and Reborn together?"

Reborn choked and Tsuna flailed. "_What_?!" he said. He faced Hayato with a pale face, nervously glancing at Reborn who was sitting very still. "No,no,no! You have it wrong, do you hear me? _You have it wrong!"_

Hayato nodded, understanding. "I see," he whispered, eyes a light with something that made Tsuna feel very uncomfortable. "A forbidden love story…!"

"Gokudera-kun –"

He stood up, passion written in his features. He brought his fist to his heart. "Do not worry, Tsuna-sama! Your secret is safe with me! I will protect your love to the ends of the earth and beyond!" He saluted Reborn who was still frozen in his seat and nodded at Tsuna with determination. "Shall I help you set the table, Tsuna-sama?" he asked in a sudden change of topic.

Tsuna nodded slowly, his hands clutching at his wooden spoon like it was the only thing anchoring him to sanity. Reborn still didn't move.

(Hayato was a romantic. He had a whole bookshelf full of sappy romance novels)

EXTRA 2:

"You said your name was _Sawada _Tsunayoshi," Reborn said.

Tsuna nodded. "Yes! I use my mother's name in public." He blushed and looked down. "Most demons don't believe I'm a Vongola, even though I look a lot like nii-sama. It's easier to be a Sawada to avoid the whispers."

Reborn sighed, ruffling his hair. "Yeah, it's unmistakable when you're standing next to each other, but you look a lot like Giotto. But you don't at the same time." He frowned and pulled at Tsuna's hair, ignoring his yelps. "But to use a name that he would recognize…" His eyes gleamed. "It looks like there's still a lot for you to learn."

Tsuna whimpered.


	5. Chapter 5

_trigger warning: suicidal actions_

* * *

"I'm home," Tsuna said casually as he strolled into the house one fine Thursday morning. He stopped in his tracks when a bullet whizzed by, just barely missing his cheek. Reborn was sitting on the steps waiting for him, his Leon gun in hand.

"Dame-Tsuna," he growled, and the gun cocked. "Where the hell have you been."

"….Here and there," Tsuna muttered, eyeing the gun warily.

Two days ago, Reborn had bought dinner for once and came home only to find the brunet gone. The only reason he hadn't gone and hunted him down was because he had called yesterday assuring that he was fine and just got a little side-tracked.

At first, Reborn had thought Tsuna was skiving off training. Lately, he had started the other on how to be more _demonic_, but hadn't really expected it to do much. You couldn't change someone so easily after all (unless under traumatic situations), and Tsuna's morals wouldn't just up and die. It was still fun though to see him run around, trying to accomplish the tasks that he had been assigned. He was pretty predictable in his reactions. It was great in making him think that Reborn could read minds, which he couldn't. He was just that great at reading people.

Still. Two days (technically one-and-a-half). And was that the Namimori Middle School uniform that Tsuna was wearing?

The brunet, very carefully, took off his shoes and sidled up to Reborn looking as innocent as possible with a bento box in his hands. ….That was definitely the Namimori Middle School uniform he was wearing. Reborn's mouth thinned.

"Have I told you that you are the best tutor ever and I appreciate your every effort?" Tsuna asked with doe eyes and a bashful smile that trembled a little. It was beautifully done – Reborn's lessons weren't completely wasted, he was somewhat pleased to note. Tsuna looked as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. Too bad the angel could see through it – mostly the little nervous shivers that were wracking his body. He could practically smell the fear that Tsuna was emitting. When Reborn didn't say anything, Tsuna stuttered out, "I-I am a demon! And y-you are a very good tutor, so, so whatever demonic thing I do, you're proud, right? Right?"

He opened the bento box, revealing it to be full of delicious looking sushi. High quality sushi. Leon – the traitor – transformed back into a chameleon to crawl down to the box and helped himself to a roll.

A vein pulsed at Reborn's temple.

Tsuna continued bravely, "T-this is f-f-for y-you…" The tension was thick and beads of sweat broke out over his head as he and the angel stared at each other. There was silence – heavy – only broken by the sound of Leon's pleased growls.

Reborn's gaze went down to the offering. He considered the bribe and slowly reached into the box, helping himself to a piece of sashimi, and chewed thoughtfully. It tasted delicious. Whoever prepared this was obviously skilled.

He swallowed and then smiled. Tsuna perked up. And then he stumbled to keep a hold of the bento as his chin was grabbed and dark, dark eyes were boring holes into his own.

"_What did you do_," Reborn hissed.

* * *

_5: _

_part i. contract_

* * *

_Tuesday evening…._

Tsuna found himself missing Hayato.

Oh, not his stalkerish tendencies or even his way of doing everything Tsuna asked even if the demon was just saying it off-handedly. It was just that Hayato had become a good friend in the couple of weeks that they had met and a good partner to suffer through Reborn's training sessions.

Reborn had decided that Tsuna's training should also include on how to be more evil. It… wasn't going very well (_oh _his poor aching muscles that he never knew he had), and he missed Hayato because at least he was someone that he could complain to and be comforted by.

The exorcist had been called away a few days ago, something about clearing up stuff with the Church, and the whole time while waiting for his flight he had clung to Tsuna crying on, _I'll come back _and _maybe I should stay _and _those bastards don't need me anyways_.

Tsuna, embarrassed at the scene his friend was making at the airport, could only pat him gently on the back. _"It's alright Goku – er, Hayato-kun, it's only for a few days_." Hayato, hearing his first name (and feeling extremely flattered), cried harder and begged for forgiveness, even going so far as to grovel on the ground. People had stared strangely at the foreign boy wearing a priest's outfit bowing and crying at the feet of another teenager who was frantically trying to get him to stand up.

It had been all too humiliating for Reborn's taste, and he had stayed away pretending not to know the both of them and ignoring Tsuna's pleading gaze. (And Tsuna still wasn't sure just why Hayato held him in such high regard – just _what did he do_ in those couple of hours that they first met each other that warranted him that kind of devotion?!)

The silver-haired boy called him often, but Tsuna still found himself missing the other, surprisingly. He had been overbearing, but now… Tsuna sighed. He was lying on the floor, too tired and achy to even get up the couch. Reborn was out, getting the groceries himself for once and giving Tsuna some much needed rest. The demon rolled over on his side to try to get more comfortable.

And fell.

"…Eh…?" Tsuna muttered as the floor gave out and turned into a vortex of swirling darkness and doom. His eyes widened as his tired mind processed what was happening. "Eh? EH? _HIEEEE?!"_

_-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-_

"Do you want fame?"

Takeshi blinked at the question with a startled expression, but then he smiled cheerfully as always. He was sitting on the bench, resting from practice. Baseball season was going to end soon, and he was determined to finish it with a memorable bang so he had been practicing as much as he could.

One of Takeshi's teammates was standing in front of him with a funny look on his face, as if he was trying to smile but it didn't quite fit the way it was supposed to.

"What do you mean, Tanaka-senpai?" he asked.

Tanaka Keiichi, an upperclassman, sat down next to him with stiff movement, but he was still smiling weirdly. "Ah, I was just thinking that you're so good at baseball and all. You want to go pro, right? Fame! Glory! Power! Wealth!" He waved his hands around and laughed. Takeshi laughed too, resisting the urge to scoot away from the usually docile Tanaka-senpai.

"Well, I love baseball… I just want to play and I guess those would be some nice bonuses," Takeshi mused. "Becoming famous for something I love to do isn't bad, right?" Tanaka-senpai grinned wider.

"You're really good at baseball too, Yamamoto."

Takeshi protested modestly and shook his head. "Ah thank you, but it's not just me-"

"It's the only thing you're good at."

"….E-eh?" Takeshi froze at the unexpected barb. His face twisted in anger and he stood up. "That's not true, I-I… I…." He looked down at the ground, defeated, hands shaking. "I…."

Tanaka-senpai stood up too, and put his hand on Takeshi's shoulders. His face was gentle. Or at least attempting to. "Don't be so down, Yamamoto! I don't mean it like that. I mean, you're so good at baseball that if you go pro, you'll have everything, right?" He winked and took out a piece of paper from his pocket and pressed it to Takeshi's hand. "If you get even better… why, you'll have everything and _more. _Yamamoto, I want you to have this. It's the summoning instructions for the baseball god."

Takeshi stared at the paper. "Baseball god…" he whispered in awe.

Tanaka-senpai nodded and patted his shoulder. He turned around, walking away towards the school and called out over his shoulder, "A little secret between us, ne?" Takeshi barely heard him as he excitedly read the words on the paper.

And as Tanaka Keiichi turned a corner of the building, he suddenly collapsed as if he were a doll whose strings have been cut. A black shadow slowly rose out from his body and high up in the air.

"Seed of temptation, planted," the demon muttered as it traveled out of Namimori. "Ugh, I miss my body. Stupid laws. Stupid humans. Ugh, disgusting!" It shuddered, looking for another human to possess. "Well at least my quota for the month is done… King Giotto is going too hard on us, damnit. I need a vacation…."

And it left, never knowing that the reason for Giotto's ire had been right in Namimori the entire time.

_-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-_

The sky was turning a little dark when Takeshi left. He took a piece of chalk from one of the classrooms before leaving, and it was sitting in his pocket like lead. "Baseball god," he murmured dreamily and went to the park. Conveniently, everyone was already leaving for home, leaving the park empty and perfect for what he was about to do.

He took out the paper Tanaka-senpai had given them. He was never too good at art, but he copied the complex looking symbol on the ground as best as he could. It was some sort of six-pointed star set within a circle, and needed a large space to draw it in.

"Draw the summoning circle," he read. "Done. Next, give some blood."

He took out a pocket knife and made a little cut on his left finger, allowing the blood to drip into the middle of the circle. He grimaced at the sharp pain, but it faded away.

"Hm. Done! Now for the summoning itself…" He stared at the words on the paper and groaned. He was barely passing English! He hoped he didn't mess this up too badly. Clearing his throat, he said in extremely mangled Latin:

"_I summon thee, demon of lies and hate and malice, to come to me. _

_Hear my voice; let it ring, for prospect of a contract._

_My soul be the price for my desires,_

_So I summon thee, Mephistopheles!" _

_-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-_

As far as a contract summoning was supposed to be, the instructions that Takeshi was given was neither the most eloquent nor the best. The demon who had given it to him was short on time, after all, and hadn't had the thought to create a better sounding chant. And perhaps if Takeshi understood just exactly what he was reading (which was in Latin, _not_ English as he was thinking), then he would have second thoughts before trying anything.

As it was, his luck was either the most fortunate or unfortunate depending on whom you asked.

Think of a summoning circle like a telephone line. If you were given a telephone number and you just happened to mess up just one number while dialing, you'd end up with a completely different person than the one you were intending to call.

You see, Takeshi really wasn't that great at drawing. One little mark out of place was enough to change the course of his life. He happened to mess up the summoning circle just enough to divert it away from Hell and to the most nearby source of hellish Aura. Which was one Tsunayoshi Vongola, going by Sawada Tsunayoshi.

Also, the demon that had possessed Tanaka Keiichi wasn't quite the smartest – Latin was a couple hundred years out of date and giving a teenager a summoning chant in a foreign language was just asking for trouble. Not to mention the temptation it used! It might have been trying to meet its quota, but the lure it used was just pure laziness, not to mention sloppy.

_-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-_

The circle glowed white.

_-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-_

Tsuna found himself lying on the ground with a splitting headache. He sat up carefully with a groan, when an awed whisper suddenly cut through his groggy thoughts.

"God…?"

He blinked at the human teenager who was standing above him with an expression that filled him with deep dread. "Huh?"

He looked around. Namimori Park? That was a couple of blocks away from his house. He looked down. And paled.

Standing up abruptly, he jumped out of the circle and grabbed the human's hands, turning them over. The human flinched back in surprise, but kept still in curiosity. There – Tsuna found what he was looking for. On the human's left wrist, a black mark was starting to appear, a flame-like swirl with three small lines slashed through the top.

Cursing in his head, Tsuna gulped and slowly turned his own right hand over. On his inner wrist was the exact same marking.

_-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-_

"So let me get this straight. Your senpai told you this was a summoning for the baseball god, and you _believed _him?!"

Takeshi nodded, still disappointed that he had notsummoned the baseball god. "Tanaka-senpai is my teammate! I trust him."

After Tsuna had cleared up the misunderstanding, the both of them were now sitting at the park bench watching the sun set. Tsuna snatched the paper that had the instructions on them with a scowl.

"Your Latin is terrible," he said, tone a little too vicious. Hey, his muscles were still aching thanks to Reborn and being sucked away in a swirling vortex didn't help. Not to mention what was on his wrist… Reborn might have been trying to make him a bit more demonic, but Tsuna was pretty sure that this was _not _what the angel had in mind.

He continued, "I could hear it when I was being summoned. Also, you have no sense of awareness. Didn't you think this was suspicious at all? Your senpai was probably possessed by a demon or something!"

Takeshi only heard one thing from that. "Don't be silly, Tsuna. Demons don't exist!"

Tsuna's face went blank and he pointed at himself. "I'm a demon," he deadpanned. Takeshi gave him a once over, taking in his large eyes and fluffy hair, and then laughed.

"A very cute demon," he joked. Tsuna didn't think it was funny. He looked away with a small pout, mumbling, '_So what if I look like this. You're human, you don't know anything…' _"I guess I should apologize," Takeshi said obliviously, not hearing Tsuna's mumbles. "I mean, I didn't expect to get a normal person."

Tsuna turned back to him, at Takeshi's innocent expression, and sighed. He shook his head. "Don't apologize for that. Just…" He grimaced and took their wrists, showing the marks. The human stared at his with a puzzled expression, not knowing what it was and where it came from.

"A bruise?" he wondered, brows furrowed.

"Yamamoto-kun," Tsuna said apologetically. "I'm really sorry but… You've just sold your soul to me. For three wishes."

Takeshi blinked. "Like a genie?"

"No! A genie grants your wishes for free, but probably with some really bad side-effects (have you ever heard the story of the monkey's paw?). They're quite mischievous, but it balances out the wishes themselves. But I'm a demon – I have no choice but to do what you say, but a contract with me is unnatural, goes against God," Tsuna explained. Making sure that Takeshi was paying attention, he continued:

"Even the act of summoning itself brings darkness to your soul. When you make your wishes, your soul corrupts and by the third wish, your soul is lost to Heaven forever. Wishes are powerful things, Yamamoto-kun…. I can even influence emotions. There is only one restriction though – I cannot bring anyone back to life." Takeshi looked thoughtful and Tsuna softened. He said gently, "I don't want to see your soul in Hell…. For one, it brings too much attention to me. And also, your soul is bright. You're a good person, Yamamoto-kun. The demon that gave you the instructions broke a rule. They weren't supposed to trick you like that by making you think it was something else that you were summoning."

The atmosphere felt heavy as Takeshi processed Tsuna's speech.

And then he had to go and open his mouth.

"That was pretty cool, Tsuna," he laughed. Tsuna's face fell in disbelief. "I almost believed it! My dad will love you, he loves stories like these." Takeshi's stomach growled, reminding him that it was past dinner time. His mouth watered thinking of what his father could be cooking right now. "Speaking of him, do you want to come over for dinner? We own a sushi shop a few blocks away – it's really good! I wish we were there right – "

_-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-_

" –now…."

Takeshi stumbled from the sudden change in vertigo. "Oh is that you, son? I didn't hear the door open," Tsuyoshi popped out from the kitchen behind the sushi bar. A strangled noise came from Tsuna, bringing attention to him. "And who's this?"

"Okay," Takeshi said quietly with wide eyes. "I believe you now."

* * *

_part ii. soul_

* * *

Somehow, Tsuna got roped into spending the night over when Tsuyoshi protested on letting such a young boy go home at so late a time. He didn't need to worry, but Tsuna appreciated the gesture.

"You don't look much like a demon," Takeshi commented while laying out the extra futon. Tsuna sighed, his shoulders slumping.

"I know," he glumly said. "I'm not really…. I mean, in Hell, the others used to make fun of me because I was too 'soft'." He made a face, fluffing out a pillow. "It's not like we demons can't care or love or anything like that. My kind is just not the sentimental type and we value strength and cunning. It's literally encoded in our genes. Except sometimes there are demons like me that crop up once in a while… Demons, the first kind, are descended from the fallen angels from back during the first civil war, and my father used to say that I was just more in touch with that angelic side. You know. Ignoring the fact that the Fallen descended in hate and disgrace, and that was several hundred thousand years ago so any traces of that blood have been thinned out…."

Tsuna's eye twitched as he remembered his father, Iemitsu.

That guy was so _weird_. He had the biggest family complex ever and carried a hundred pictures of them around on his person. He even managed to save a couple of pictures from back when Nana used to force Tsuna in a dress – and he had thought he had burned them all! (If he knew that it was Giotto who had saved those pictures…)

Takeshi smiled, handing over some clothes. "Here, you can change into these."

"Thanks."

"No problem. But you know, I'm glad you're like this. Because then I know that I can definitely trust you with my soul."

Tsuna put his hands on his hips and put his best scolding face on. "Speaking of which…. Honestly, Yamamoto-kun! You need to be more careful! You've just wasted a wish!" Both of them thought back to the marks on their wrists. Where there had once been three lines slashing through the top of the flame, there were now only two.

Scratching his head, Takeshi chuckled nervously. "Sorry… So how do I prevent that from happening again?"

Tsuna thought for a moment before replying. "It's all about intent, really. Intent and invocation. When you made your first wish, you were really hungry and you wanted to eat, right? And then you said the key words, _I wish._ It's really simple… so you need to be really careful. It's easy to accidently make a wish and your soul hasn't been lost yet. I'll have to ask Reborn tomorrow on how to back out of the contract…"

"Who's Reborn?"

At the question, Tsuna had to groan. "He's an angel… and also my self-proclaimed tutor," he flopped down on the futon. "He's terrible!"

"Angels are real too…?" Takeshi's eyes were eager and he leaned in, excited to learn more. Technically, the human was only supposed to know about the contract and not anything else, but Tsuna was pretty much a criminal anyways and had stopped caring about such things. Besides, his Intuition was saying that he could trust him and it hasn't led him wrong yet.

"Of course!" Tsuna replied, sitting up and hugging his pillow. "If demons are real, why wouldn't angels be? Although…." He took a deep breath. "Reborn should have been born the devil instead! He's training _me _on how to be more _demonic_! What kind of angel does that?! To tell you the truth, I think he's just toying with me. He's supposed to be really powerful so maybe he's trying to train me up to be someone strong enough to fight…"

Tsuna shuddered. He really wouldn't put it past Reborn to do that.

"One time, he dropped me off in the middle of a yakuza den and told me to fight my way out without my powers – I thought I was gonna die! Humans are so scary…"

Takeshi snorted and Tsuna threw him a watery glare. "Don't laugh!" he wailed. "Another time, he dragged me off to Africa in the middle of the night. I will never see elephants the same way again!" Takeshi was rolling on the ground in full out laughter now. "Once, after we watched an Indiana Jones movie, he decided that we should go on an 'adventure' and we came across real treasure hunters in the Caribbean. They were actually searching for the Fountain of Youth – who does that?! Them, that's who! And Reborn was laughing the entire time they were trying to kill us."

Wiping a tear from his eye, Takeshi said, "It sounds like you two get along great."

"Eh? Didn't you just hear what I said?"

The baseball player gestured at Tsuna with a mischievous grin. "You're smiling," he pointed out. "And the entire time you were talking about him, you sounded like you were having fun."

The demon blinked and then _did _realize he was smiling. He laughed too, eyes softening as he thought about it. "I guess I am having fun," he admitted. "Reborn is… _Reborn_. He's pushy, stubborn, and has weird hobbies but he's always there, you know? It's the first time anyone has tried with me in a long time… when I fail, he shoots at me and tells me to try harder and when I'm down, he kicks me and makes me get up. It hurts and I always have bruises by the end of the day, but I've done it and it makes me feel stronger and why are you looking at me like that."

Takeshi snickered and shoved a pillow on top of Tsuna's head. Ignoring the smaller body's flailing, he teased, "So a demon and an angel huh? Ah love~"

"_What do you mean by that?!"_ Tsuna squawked, voice muffled.

"Maa maa. When you're older."

"_Hie? But I'm older than you!"_

_-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-_

"Sorry… we woke up kind of late," Tsuna looked a little embarrassed. They had both stayed up kind of late, talking, and the next morning had found Takeshi rushing around his bedroom. They were standing outside the school's gates now, though the bell just rung.

"Maa, it's alright," Takeshi reassured. "Our school has a lot of delinquents so most of the teachers kind of just go with the flow now. Well, I was planning on skipping first block anyways, to practice baseball. My teacher won't mind much."

Tsuna smiled at him. Takeshi had become a fast friend to him and it now felt like he knew him for years. "You have your tournament soon, right? Good luck with that!"

"Heh, thanks."

"Here's my mobile number. I'll have you come over to my house, after your school ends, and we'll talk to Reborn about what to do… Don't make any more wishes!"

"Got it, don't worry," Takeshi took the piece of paper with the number scrawled on it and walked off with a cheerful smile and wave. Tsuna waved back, waiting until the other entered the building to let himself slump to the ground in a pile of misery.

"I'm doomed," he said lowly, tugging at his hair, "Reborn's going to _kill _me. No, he's going to string me up like a piñata first… _hieeee_."

Not that Reborn had to know right away, right?

A couple hours later and Tsuna was humming to himself as he forked a piece of black forest cake into his mouth. His eyes closed in bliss. He was at the dessert shop in town. He called his tutor earlier with some assurance and then had ended the conversation as quickly as he could. Today was his break day! Yes, that was his plan.

The fork clattered loudly on the table when it slipped from his hands.

Something was wrong.

With his right wrist burning in pain and his Intuition flaring, Tsuna was out the door like a rocket, straight for Namimori Middle.

_-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-_

"Yamamoto-kun…. What are you doing?" Tsuna asked softly, body tense. There was anger in his eyes. The world was still. Time stood still, but only for a couple minutes. It was the best Tsuna could do in this situation.

Yamamoto Takeshi, feet on the very edge of the school's roof, blinked at the frozen crowd around him and then smiled. "Ah, Tsuna! How did you find me?"

"It wasn't very hard with all the students making a fuss about how their baseball star was going to _jump_ off the _roof_," Tsuna took a step forward, noticing the arm in the sling. Takeshi noticed his gaze and smiled sadly.

"Baseball is all I have, Tsuna. It's the only thing I'm good at."

"That's not true," Tsuna retorted. Some sort of calm was washing over him, making the world sharper and clearer. It felt like the time when he had decided to leave Hell.

Takeshi's smile slipped. "I've let my team down. The tournament is _next week_. My team was relying on me and… and I've failed them. What do I have? My friends will leave me." He looked to the sky. "Even the baseball god has abandoned me!"

This wasn't just the darkness of the soul as Tsuna had feared. It was also Takeshi's stressed out feelings that he had hidden under layers of cheerfulness and smiles (yet, for that time spent with the demon, he had felt truly happy in a long time).

"You can't hold the weight of the entire team by yourself." Tsuna stared intently into Takeshi's own. "And what kind of friends leaves you just because you can't play baseball? If you ask me, I'd say they're not true friends. Your arm will heal with time. Please step away from there."

The baseball player's head shook, refusing to listen. "Tsuna, you're pretty cool….you care about people despite being a demon and you even left Hell to get stronger, right? Compared to you, I'm weak… my arm broke so easily even though I tried so hard…I…."

Somehow, Tsuna got the feeling that this wasn't completely about baseball. "Yamamoto Takeshi, I admired you!" he snapped, "You are stronger than you think you are! You smiled and went on with life even though it pained you!"

Takeshi jerked with surprise. "…What…?"

"You take everything in stride and you didn't let it bother you! When you made that contract… you didn't freak out like any other human would. You trusted me even though I am a demon and I could have been lying to you any time."

"But I'm weak-"

"Why didn't you just wish for your arm healed?" Tsuna interrupted, arms crossed.

"Because… I promised…."

Tsuna smiled. "You really are strong." Seeing that Takeshi wasn't getting it, he sighed and stamped his feet. "Honestly, Yamamoto-kun! Are you this selfish? If you've forgotten, you _sold_ your _soul_ to me. So until I can figure out how to give it back, live and laugh and love and make it exciting as possible – and think of your father and what you'll be leaving behind."

Takeshi flinched. He had forgotten about his father. And… he somehow felt a little lighter now. What was he thinking? He laughed softly, "I was being pretty stupid huh." Tsuna laughed too – in relief – and held out a hand.

Time was starting to move again. Tsuna led a shaky Takeshi off the roof, avoiding the moving crowds. The students would be surprised perhaps panicked, but then they would get over it as they would find some logical explanation as to how their baseball player suddenly vanished. For now, Tsuna would watch over him, making sure that darkness wouldn't creep up on him again.

"You know, you should just call me by my first name," Takeshi said, his good arm slung around Tsuna's neck, "Since my soul is in your hands now."

"Not forever," Tsuna replied hopefully.

"Heh. I wouldn't mind if it's you," Takeshi looked fondly at him. "You really are awesome. By the way, where did you get that uniform?"

The brunette tugged at the collar of his stolen Namimori uniform with a blush. "Oh I borrowed it," he looked away, "I can't do anything big without attracting attention after all. Now come on. I'm taking you home."

"Tsuna… thank you."

_-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-_

He ended up sleeping over again. Tsuyoshi had heard the story somehow and had plied Tsuna with so much sushi that he thought he was going to burst. Takeshi had only sniggered and offered him more sushi.

It was really good.

* * *

_Which brings us to present events…._

"So this is Takeshi."

Tsuna shifted nervously beside his contractor who was staring at Reborn with interest. The tall teen had been waiting outside until Tsuna had invited him in. He nodded, still clutching the bento box as if it were a life-line. "So…can you help him?" He held up his marked wrist. Reborn's lip curled.

"….You _stupid __**demon**_**.**"

"Hie?! Mean!" Tsuna's face twisted and he yelled, "It wasn't my fault this time!

"What. The. Hell. I mean, _what the fucking hell._ First it was that exorcist and now this! How many strays are you going to bring home?! Dame-Tsuna!"

"Hayato and Takeshi are not strays! And don't call me that!"

"Dame-Tsuna is _Dame-Tsuna._ Of course, you'd be the only demon in history to _accidently_ buy someone's soul. I know I was training you for the big boy stuff, but this is way over the line. Soul contracts are no small things!"

"You think I don't know that?! I'm not stupid!"

Takeshi watched this back and forth argument with growing amusement. The angel slapped Tsuna upside the head. The demon rubbed his head and glared.

"To fix this would take tons of paperwork! Paperwork that brings _attention_ to us, which in case you forgot, is what we are trying to avoid. Damnit Tsuna. Dame-Tsuna_._ _Dame, dame, dame, dame!"_

Tsuna shrieked with consternation and jabbed a finger at his counter-part. "Stop. Calling. Me. That. You – you – you _OTAKU._" There was a sudden ringing silence as Tsuna realized what he just said. He gulped and inched away, hands held up. "A-ah, I was j-just kidding, ne? Haha…ha…."

Reborn's fedora was shadowing his face. The sound of a gun cocking filled the air. He raised his head up, showing a very dark expression. "You're dead."

Before he could do anything, Takeshi couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out into gales of laughter.

"Hahahaha! You guys… you guys are great! Haha!" He clutched the door frame, holding his stomach.

The two supernatural beings stared at the laughing boy. Atmosphere ruined, Reborn sighed and put Leon away. He pushed his hat down on his head. "You picked up a weird one this time," he muttered. He plucked the sushi-filled bento box out of Tsuna's hands and walked off to the living room saying, "Go get me a drink, demon!"

Mumbling something about _déjà-vus_ and _Xanxus_', Tsuna dragged the still laughing Takeshi to the kitchen.

He didn't notice the exasperated, yet fond glance that Reborn threw him as he passed by.

* * *

EXTRA:

A briefcase dropped to the ground with a loud thud. "Tsuna-sama….who… WHO IS HE?!" Standing at the entrance of the living room was Hayato, back from Italy, who pointed at Takeshi with extreme agitation. The baseball player was sitting beside Tsuna on the couch, eating some chips.

He swallowed and gave a grin and peace sign. "Yo! I'm Yamamoto Takeshi, Tsuna's friend." The exorcist made a disgusted face at the crumbs on his hands and lips.

Tsuna smiled calmly. "Takeshi is a normal human middle-schooler. He accidently sold his soul to me a few days ago." At Hayato's choking noises, he added, "But we're trying to fix it, don't worry. So how was your trip?"

Right then and there, Hayato declared himself rival to Takeshi.

_Rival to what…?_ Tsuna wondered, but didn't ask out loud. On second thought, he really didn't want to know.

EXTRA 2:

"Come on Natsu," Giotto wheedled. The little hell lion was laying in front of a window in a sunny spot. He rolled away from Giotto and stretched with a yawn.

"Gao~" he purred with a flick of his tail. Giotto, king of hell, twitched and his eyes started to burn orange in irritation. He grabbed the lion and turned him back over.

He took a deep breath and released it, trying to calm himself. "I know you know where Tsunayoshi is. Tell me now!" All niceties were over.

Natsu whimpered and cowered away. "Gao!" he protested and shook his head. Giotto yelped as sharp fangs sank into his hand and then Natsu was running away.

"That….little…"

"Lay off, Giotto," G called out as he entered the room. "It was stupid to rely on him in the first place. You know Natsu is loyal only to Tsunayoshi."

The king glared at his right-hand man. "I don't want to talk to you, you traitor," he snapped. "You've always had a soft spot for my brother! You didn't say anything when he ran away!"

"Well…" G started. To be honest, he was on Tsuna's side on this. Giotto had always been overbearing when it came to his brother. His protectiveness came off wrong though and their relationship was somewhat wracked with misunderstandings.

Giotto's expression wavered as his eyes teared up. "My brother, my little brother… _Tsuna hates me!"_ He covered his face in distress. "I-I never meant those last words I said to him, G. Fuck. This is all my fault." He started crying.

G rolled his eyes. The king's guilt and weeping had become pretty common over the past few months. It was his duty to calm him down and make him presentable to the public. "Alright, alright," he sighed and knelt down to pat Giotto on the pack soothingly. "Tsuna doesn't hate you. He doesn't hate anyone. It's just a little rebellion. It's common at his age."

"_He's five hundred and seventy-three years old! Why is he rebelling now?!"_

"It was an overdue process. At least we know he's alive now or else Natsu would be out of control."

Giotto lifted his head, eyes worried. "But… you know what this means." He was referring to the scent that Natsu carried with him when he came back.

G tensed. "Yeah," he confirmed. "It's just as we feared. Tsunayoshi is in the human world. Though I don't know how he's hiding from us."

The blond gripped the other's arm tight, face serious. "We cannot let this be known."

"I know. For now, we have to hope he is alright, wherever he is." G groaned when Giotto's face crumbled again.

"_Tsunaaaa-aaaaa_," he cried.

"For the love of – get a hold of yourself!"

EXTRA 3:

One of the early attempts by Tsuna, to be more evil, has become a sort of bonding ritual for both him and Reborn.

"Pfft, that one completely fell over," the angel sniggered as he watched through the café window. Tsuna groaned with embarrassment, but he also looked outside with a degree of eagerness.

With the angel's help earlier, he had glued valuable coins to the sidewalk and sat at the café near it to watch the humans try to pick them up.

He took a bite out of his apple and chuckled guiltily when another human tried to pick a coin up. This one must have been particularly greedy. He kept straining to pull it up even though it was stuck and… oh. Oh.

"Oh dear," Tsuna fretted as another person approached the man, asking if he needed any help. Frustrated and embarrassed, he lashed out at the other and now they were locked in a heated argument. Tsuna's eyes widened when one of them punched the other. It all started to escalate from there. "That wasn't supposed to happen."

He flinched as a brave pedestrian tried to stop the two, only to get pulled into the fight. A crowd of horrified and fascinated bystanders was forming. Some pulled out their cell phones.

Meanwhile, Reborn watched with speculative eyes. "Huh," he finally managed to say as the sound of distant sirens filled the air. Black and white cars were appearing with bored looking police officers.

They both watched silently as the humans were dragged away in handcuffs.

"…Do you think they'll be alright?"

"….Hm."

* * *

_a/n: I had the first draft of this written down. I got about seven pages in before I decided it wasn't good and scrapped the entire thing, starting over from scratch. Then I spent a couple days in gloom. I witnessed an act of violence about two weeks ago that has bothered me 'till now. It's not as bad as what has happened to the university shootings a couple days ago, but sheltered as I am, I was totally unprepared for it. It might even not seem bad to some of you, but my inability to act in the situation has kind of put my world in perspective._

_Anyways, I've always been disappointed that Yamamoto's suicide scene wasn't shown in the anime since I felt that, that was a pivotal point in his and Tsuna's friendship. **Here, Yamamoto's soul was already starting to corrupt from his contract and first wish** which prompted him to be pushed over the edge, along with feeling lonely and stressed. I hope that made sense and didn't feel too awkward or rushed. It's always hard to write something like that. Did the contract and the effect on the soul make sense?_

_**A few facts not obviously known in this fic**: Reborn has a secret penchant for reading shoujo manga and loves to cosplay. Also, **otaku** is not a term of endearment in Japan. In the West, otaku is kind of seen as the nerdy/geeky yet proud/cool anime fans and some call themselves it with pride. It has a different and negative connotation in Japan... otakus are the hard-core obsessed anime fans (not just for anime). They're seen as creepy and sometimes as perverts, and the media's image of them is people who are non-productive to society and do nothing but collect figurines, etc. They get a pretty bad rep because of the media describing some killers as otaku._

_Yamamoto is really dense when it comes to himself, but he's pretty wise sometimes. That's my headcanon at least. I believe he's just trolling everyone (otherwise there is something really wrong with him in believing everything is a 'game'). Here in this fic, he notices a lot of the developing feelings Tsuna has for Reborn (and feels a little jealous). _

_The contract becomes important in later events._

_Also, shout out to my favorite book in the extras! Good Omens! (Idea taken from Crowley's New Years Resolution)_

_Feedback always appreciated!_

_P.S. Finally found a working line break that FF doesn't erase! Thank the Lord!_


	6. Chapter 6

_Warnings: bullying, OOCness, bad (one-sided) fighting scene...  
_

* * *

_6: stray bird_

* * *

Back in Hell, Tsunayoshi used to bring home injured animals. His 'strays' as his family had taken to calling them fondly. Sometimes, some of them were too injured to survive and they'd die no matter how much he tried to save them. He'd cry and Giotto would go out and bring back bloodied hearts and dragon scales with bits of skin still stuck to them, or even dragging in large tied up hell animals with their hissing tongues and sharp teeth to try to cheer him up. Which only made Tsuna cry harder to Giotto's immense confusion.

To be fair, the blond was about a century or two years old. A pre-teen in Hellish years, meaning… You know. _Boys _and their _insensitivity._

It was worse when Tsuna's strays got better. 'Cause he named each. And. Every. Single. One. He'd beg to keep them, looking at his parents with droopy wings and clutching his tail like a security blanket. He'd gaze at them with watery eyes and even his hair seemed to give a sad little flop – Nana had to restrain Iemitsu from glomping the poor child and sternly said _no_, though it pained her heart to do so.

Giotto had no such restraint.

When he took over Hell's throne, G was the only sane demon to become his voice of reason. And even _he_ had a soft spot for Tsunayoshi, though he tried not show it.

So one day, Tsuna came home after a day playing outside, hiding something under his cloak. Under his brother's scrutiny, he shuffled around nervously before finally pulling it out. It was a little lion cub.

G had to stop Giotto from throwing Natsu out the window.

A fully grown lion in the human world is scary, but pretty lazy and tame when they're content and also kind of cute in that _oh it's so dangerous and wild, yet so majestic and powerful _kind of way. An adult _hell_ lion, however…

They were big. About four or five times bigger than the Earth's equivalent. Their teeth were insanely sharp and long, and they had the ability to produce potent acid in their saliva. Their powerful legs enabled them to jump far distances and pounce on oblivious prey (they could hide in trees too), so you couldn't get away even if you were flying. Their manes and the tip of their tails were made up of hell fire and they had a certain bloodlust that made them chase after anything in relentless pursuit, not to mention how hard it was to fight them off. In other words, they were a Class SS demon.

"_Tsunayoshi, get away from it_," Giotto had screeched with wide eyes. His hands were nervously flailing in a way that indicated at his confusion of whether to step forward and snatch his brother away or step back in case the animal tried to attack. Tsuna held the cub tighter to his chest protectively with an uncharacteristic glower at his brother.

"_His_ name is Natsu, and I'm taking care of him," he had snapped back. G only scratched his head calmly. He looked at Tsuna's pout and at the cub who was making small whimpering noises and trying to hide his head in the arms holding him. It was kind of cute.

Giotto froze, stuttering, before he finally managed to compose himself. "As your older brother and lord of this castle, I forbid you from bringing that thing in here," he said with a commanding tone – a far cry from his previous flailing before. "I must keep in mind of the safety of everyone in here. Despite what it looks like now, it's going to grow up bloodthirsty and hard to handle."

Tsunayoshi's face fell and he shrank away, wings and hair drooping. "But Natsu is so little," he said softly. "When I found him, he was being bullied by his family and he was trying to hide from a grimalkin _kitten_."

Natsu mewled pathetically from his arms with a fearful look at the older two demons. Tsuna gazed at the king, the same look he used to give to their parents when asking if he could keep his animal.

"Okay," Giotto said without missing a beat. G jerked his head.

"Gio – _Your Majesty_," he had hissed with a glare to his king. And then he looked at Tsuna (and centuries later would finally manage to identify that expression as _moe_). "….Okay," he echoed dumbly.

Brightening with gratitude, Tsuna had beamed at them with a smile that they had never seen before, before bounding away upstairs with a promise that he would take good care of Natsu and the animal would be well-behaved.

Still. It didn't mean that the lion was accepted. Giotto treated it with distrust and wariness – and the other top ranked demons were a mixture of annoyed/terrified/amused. But surprisingly for his species, Natsu was a little coward and a huge wimp.

He cowered away when Giotto glared at him. He whimpered when Alaude hunted him down when he made a mess. He _shook_ when Daemon even got near him. And each time, Tsunayoshi would scoop him up in his arms with a little kiss to his nose and a gentle smile. And a hesitant _'C-can you leave him alone_ _please,_' to the others. Honestly, the animal was pathetic and brought a bad name to his kind.

But Tsuna loved Natsu and Giotto loved Tsuna, so the little lion was tolerated but his presence not enjoyed. Until Tsuna got himself kidnapped one day, by some low-life demon scum who were stupidly trying to ransom some wealth.

Before Giotto could even fly to his brother's rescue, Natsu was out the window with a terrifying roar that shook the walls, chasing after the three demons that had Tsuna – bound and gagged – in a sack.

The younger Vongola was surprisingly calm when he managed to wiggle out of the bag and spit out the cloth in his mouth. He had frowned distastefully at all the blood and ignored Giotto's frantic questions of whether he was okay.

"Natsu," he said. The cub snarled, one of his kidnappers underneath him. All three demons were alive, but barely. They probably wished they weren't now. The two Vongola had never seen Natsu like this before, and even Giotto was feeling a little trepidation though Tsuna was as accepting as always. "C'mere boy." Natsu's fiery-red eyes faded back to their soft orange color. He spat away a piece of bloodied cloth and bounded to Tsuna.

He pawed at the ropes still tying Tsuna's limbs together and licked his cheek. The ropes were burned away, courtesy to Giotto, and he purred lovingly.

Giotto hauled Tsuna to his chest, burying his face into his hair and breathing in deeply. Tsuna had looked quite uncertain and confused, but awkwardly patted him on the back.

"Brother…?" he had murmured. "You're trembling." Giotto just hugged him tighter and peeked out from Tsuna's hair at Natsu.

"Thank you," he whispered to him with suspiciously wet eyes. Natsu gave a pleased mewl and licked a paw, cleaning off the blood.

He was still a little coward, but at least he wasn't hiding from Giotto anymore. The king graced him with warm smiles now. But when it came to Tsuna, he transformed from a wimp into a ferocious beast – a true _hell lion_.

Although, Tsuna had to stop trying to keep other animals. Natsu's jealousy tended to chase them off after they were all healed, much to the brunette's exasperation.

* * *

Fast forward a few hundred years, and Tsuna's habit of bringing home injured animals never stopped.

Grumpy cats, happy dogs, little birds – he brought them to Reborn and would watch fascinated as the angel fixed them up.

Today, they were sitting together on the rug in the living room. It was a bird this time, with a broken wing, in Reborn's lap.

"Lord, heal this creature," Reborn said with a hand over the wound. Tsuna always had to lean away from the heavenly light or it would literally burn him. He learned this the hard way, the first time he brought an animal home. The little sparrow twittered and flew to Reborn's shoulders, who smiled unconsciously, and patted its little head. Leon snapped at it and it flew out the open window.

Tsuna sighed. "I'm so jealous," he whined, with a longing look at the angel's hands. Reborn thwacked him on the head, turning his mind elsewhere.

"This is starting to get troublesome," he grumbled, but his expression was amused. "It's especially troublesome when the strays decide to stick around."

He gave a very pointed look towards Takeshi and Hayato who were watching T.V. and arguing over the remote. Well, Hayato was trying to turn the channel back to _Angels: Messengers of God or Ancient Aliens? _on Discovery Channel. Takeshi was protesting, trying to convince Hayato that his baseball program was worth watching.

"They're not that bad," Tsuna defended quickly. He winced when the two boys leapt for the remote and knocked over the coffee table. Reborn looked at him with a raised eyebrow. _I told you so_, his face seemed to say.

"_Give – it – to – me_!" Hayato snarled as he leapt onto Takeshi's back. The baseball player grunted as he held the remote out of reach.

"You'll love baseball, I promise!" Takeshi yelled back with a wild grin, and twisted out of the exorcist's grip when he accidently kicked him in the chest. In retaliation, Hayato grabbed his feet causing him to yelp and fall over. The remote flew out of his hand and hit Reborn in the head.

It bounced off with an ominous thunk.

Everyone froze.

"…._merda_," Hayato gulped.

The air grew colder and everyone in the room could have sworn seeing a deadly black aura coming out of Reborn. The angel, very slowly, turned his head around to the two humans. He was smiling, eyes slitted.

"Ah, it seems Dame-Tsuna hasn't trained you two enough," he said with a cheerful tilt of his head. He stood up lazily, looming over them dangerously. "Shall I teach the both of you _Divine Punishment_ in his stead?"

Tsuna gave his friends a pitying look and quietly stepped out of the room. The sound of mad cackles and gunshots, accompanied by terrified screaming followed after him.

(Of course, he too was punished later)

* * *

_**Interlude: a day in their lives**_

"A-a-aa-ACHOO!" Tsuna sneezed. He groaned in misery, curling up on his favorite armchair. Reborn entered the room with a frown and two cups of tea in his hands. He set them on the table and leaned close in front of the demon's face.

"You've been coughing a lot lately too," he stated. He put a hand on Tsuna's forehead. "Are you sick?"

"Impossible," Tsuna mumbled. He resisted the urge to lean into the cool touch. "I haven't been in Hell in months." Human illnesses could not affect their kind, after all. He peered at Reborn's face thoughtfully. "Maybe I caught something from you..."

Irritated, the angel pinched his cheek hard. "I don't go to Heaven that often to catch something there," he snapped.

Tsuna winced, "ow ow ow, okay I get it! Maybe it's allergies." He rubbed his reddened cheek with teary eyes. "It'll be autumn soon, so it could be that the change in temperature is affecting me."

Reborn was still frowning though.

His reaction, however, had nothing on Hayato who was paranoid when it came to all things Tsuna. When he arrived at their house, he literally dropped everything to attend to him.

(Deep inside his mind, Hayato was remembering his mother. His gentle mother who was also a demon and had died because she was sick.)

"Blankets! Soup!" he panicked. He had tucked Tsuna into bed very thoroughly. A little too thoroughly if you asked Tsuna. The exorcist was rushing about his room in a flurry, whether to bring more blankets or to check the chicken noodle soup that he was cooking in the kitchen. Reborn watched this in a mixture of amusement and annoyance.

"Shouldn't you be in school?" he asked. He was sitting backwards on the chair in Tsuna's room, arms resting lazily on the back with his cheek resting in one hand.

Hayato stopped to blush modestly and rubbed the back of his head. "I don't need to be in school," he replied with a hint of arrogance coating his words. "I'm a certified genius. I've already got my PhD back in Italy." Then his eyes narrowed. "Nothing like that baseball idiot!"

"_Wow Hayato, that's amazing,_" came Tsuna's muffled voice. The exorcist beamed and Tsuna continued, "_But you really don't need to do all this. I don't feel that sick anymore, so can you come here and take this blanket off my face? Please."_

He did get better by the end of the day – in fact, by the time Takeshi came over after his school ended, he was completely fine. He was still fussed over, but at least Reborn gave him the day off. It had been surprisingly nice (merciful) of him to do so.

It also brought the two other-worlder's attentions to the changing of seasons. Summer was ending soon and Tsuna felt kind of sentimental about it. He met Reborn in late spring, but it felt like it had been forever since he had known him. Reborn just felt miffed that his training of Tsuna would have to be changed to accommodate the weather, but then he felt gleeful as thoughts of how he could use it to his advantage entered his mind (Tsuna suddenly shivered in fear).

It wasn't autumn yet, however. The days were still warm, though the evenings were now getting cooler and the sky darker. But the sweltering days of summer had now past and soon would come the brilliance of fall.

_**End Interlude.**_

* * *

It was times like these that his friends would have been useful, Tsuna thought glumly. Reborn had been in the mood for Italian cuisine and gave him a long list of ingredients to buy that morning.

Italian ingredients. In Japan.

Tsuna resisted the urge to sob. He was given the time limit of _dinner time_, like that was helpful. So far, he had pretty much been all over town, hunting for certain products. Unfortunately, Takeshi had school and baseball, and Hayato was still an emancipated teenager who had bills to pay (exorcist jobs could take place anywhere in the world). So their help was excluded.

By near evening, Tsuna had no choice but to get home now, but some of the items on Reborn's list were still missing. He hoped Reborn wouldn't notice, but he knew it was futile. The angel knew everything.

Laden with grocery bags, Tsuna struggled to walk home having to stop and rest a couple times. He had almost arrived at his destination when he took another short break under a tree. Mumbling about stupid angels, he stretched his aching arms out with a groan and almost didn't hear the rustle of leaves above him.

But he did.

He looked up.

-.-.-.-

Reborn sent Tsuna out that morning for a grocery hunt. Tsuna came back with the groceries – along with extra baggage.

The angel stared blankly at the _thing_ clutching Tsuna's leg. It had a grocery bag hanging off one shoulder, the rest Tsuna had dropped on the floor earlier when he came in.

Tsuna rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I found him in a tree," he explained with a hand on the _child's_ head. "He said his name is Hibari Kyoya."

The kid looked up at him with an intense narrow-eyed gaze and shuffled behind Tsuna's legs. He was a beat-up looking thing with small scrapes and bruises on his visible skin. He was also sort of on the scrawny side and looked to be around five or six years old. His whole appearance pretty much screamed _bullied child!_

Reborn looked at him and then at Tsuna several times. "…Oh _hell_ no."

-.-.-.-

Kyoya – or Kyo-kun as Tsuna insisted on calling him – stayed over for dinner that night.

(They ended up eating ramen)

-.-.-.-

"Lord, heal this… creature," Reborn muttered, holding the child's left arm. Kyoya watched, fascinated, as light enveloped the angel's hand and healed his wounds.

He blinked in surprise as his bruises faded and small cuts healed up. "That's not normal," he said bluntly. He glared at Reborn and snatched his arm back, scooting further away.

Reborn twitched. He reached out and pinched both cheeks and pulled hard. "You… little… _bra-"_

"Stop bullying Kyo-kun!" Tsuna snapped when he saw the scene. He gathered Kyoya into his arms protectively and pinned the angel with a very disappointed expression. "Honestly Reborn, I expected better from – HIEE!" Tsuna shrieked when he felt hands touching his back in a _very _uncomfortable way. "K-K-_Kyo-kun?!"_

Kyoya had a puzzled expression as his hand wandered up and down Tsuna's back. "Weird," he explained, patting Tsuna's shoulder blades.

Reborn narrowed his eyes. "Hm. Interesting," he said thoughtfully as his lips curled into a sort of smirk. He raised a finger and let out a burst of angelic Aura that had Tsuna wincing. Kyoya shuddered in his arms and his entranced eyes followed Reborn's hand.

"_Wao_," he whispered.

"I don't understand," Tsuna complained, holding Kyoya tighter.

Reborn shrugged. "Seems like the brat is spiritually sensitive," he suppressed his Aura, "I bet he'd make a decent exorcist."

A small hand reached up to tug at Tsuna's hair harshly. Kyoya glared at him. "You people… what are you?"

* * *

The thing was, Hibari Kyoya had a little bully problem. In the form of one Kusakabe Tetsuya.

Okay, so here's the deal. Children are children – they are either the sweetest angels in existence or the cruelest demons you could ever meet. Evil, evil children. Specifically, bullies. Bullying can take many shapes and forms and it's a given fact that most bullies are taking out their own stress and frustration in someone younger and smaller themselves. Sometimes, some bullies don't even know they are and are just following the crowd because they want to fit in or they think it's funny. Children (and adults) can be insecure like that. The point is, if there are bullies then there are victims.

And like a shark scenting blood in the water, the bullies sniff out that one person with a weakness they can exploit and raise their own status during the process.

Kyoya's family was filthy rich. Mixing that in with his rather strange personality, the seeds of jealousy were sowed amongst his peers and he was called _cold_ and _snobby_. Kyoya's family also didn't care very much for him, which suited him fine as he didn't care much for them either. His parents (who also didn't love each other) were cold and prominent business people who only had him as that was what was expected for their station in life. As soon as he was birthed, he was dumped into the care of servants and educational television and they went on with their lives, barely seeing each other.

The boy was fine with that. The other children were not. Somehow, word got out that snobby Kyoya was unwanted and class bully Tetsuya took the chance to taunt him whenever he could, prompting others to join him.

-.-.-.-

"Loser-Kyoya!" Tetsuya followed after him after the elementary school's end-of-day bell rung. Most of the children were hanging out by the gate, waiting for their parents to come pick them up, except for kids like Kyoya who walked home. "Hey, I'm talking to you!"

The child in question only ducked his head and hunched his shoulders in, walking faster. Tetsuya and a couple other boys followed him, sticks in hand. They were poking him with it.

Irked, he whirled around with a thunderous expression. "What do you want?" he spat out. He twitched when a boy kept poking him while giggling.

Tetsuya smirked. He was a tall child with long dark hair and looked older than his six years. "Your allowance money," he held his hand out beseechingly. The other boys followed his example. "Not all of us are _rich_ like _you_."

Kyoya stared at them, hands clenched tight on the straps of his backpack. "….You took it during lunch," he said blankly.

"Not all of it, now hand it over pipsqueak."

"_Herbivores_," Kyoya muttered under his breath. Before Tetsuya and his cronies could figure out what that meant, he swung his backpack at the boys' face and then took off running as the boys scrambled to get back up from where they were knocked down.

"Loser!" Tetsuya screamed at him as he rubbed the red mark on his nose. "Everyone knows nobody wants you, _Hibari freak!_"

-.-.-.-

"Kyo-kun!" Tsuna seemed surprised but pleased to see him. Kyoya, with an upset expression, stormed past him and into his house.

He supposed it was a bit rude considering they only met yesterday when he was up in the tree, hiding from bullies. But Tsuna said that he could come over whenever he wanted, as long as he had his parent's permission (yesterday had been a really weird day).

He went into the living room and plopped down on the couch, turning the TV on. "I hate school," he proclaimed to Tsuna who followed after him with a hesitant expression.

"I see….Do you want snacks and we can talk it over?" Tsuna offered. Kyoya sunk down even further into his spot with a remote in hand.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Reborn said when he came down the stairs. "Didn't I scare you off last night?"

(Referring to when Reborn had thrown him a sinister smile and said very seriously that he and Tsuna were practitioners of the dark arts and he was the Lord of Darkness. Tsuna had spluttered and Kyoya didn't know what to say back to these _crazy_ people. Suffice to say, it had been really awkward when Tsuna walked him home).

"I suppose you may be insane, but you're okay enough," Kyoya seethed as he pressed the channel button with rage. Insane people who felt really weird. As if they had something unnatural about them (truth be told, Kyoya kind of believed the dark eyed man).

Reborn raised a brow. "You're a weird brat," he said. Tsuna just sighed.

"I'll go get some tea and cookies," he said wearily.

-.-.-.-

"So you have a bully problem, eh?"

"The world is one giant food chain," Kyoya mourned. He bit savagely into a cookie.

"Pft. Where'd you hear that from?"

"Animal Planet."

Tsuna sighed, folding his hands under his chin. "I had a bully problem too," he said. He peered at Reborn. "I think I still do," he added quietly. Reborn heard him anyways and sent him a vicious grin.

Kyoya seemed interested. "How did you handle it?" he asked.

Tsuna thought of Natsu and his intimidating body-guards that couldn't protect his childhood or the whispers thrown at his back. "Oh, they just left me alone after I ignored them," he lied with an encouraging smile. He elbowed Reborn in the side when the angel snorted. His leg was pinched in return and Tsuna clenched his teeth together to prevent a squeal of pain from escaping.

"Already tried it, didn't work," Kyoya said monotonously.

"Stand up for yourself," Reborn suggested. He remembered hearing that from some program. Kids always backed down when confronted, right? He slapped away Tsuna's hand who was trying to pinch him back.

Obliviously, Kyoya stared down into his cup of tea with a frown. "I suppose I could try that," he grudgingly said.

-.-.-.-.-

"Pay the door fee, Loser-Kyoya." Tetsuya stood in front of the classroom door with a sneer.

"There is no door fee," Kyoya held his head up high and stared directly into the other's eyes. "Go away."

"…What was that?"

-.-.-.-.-

"Your idea was terrible," Kyoya informed Reborn when he shouldered his way into his house.

"….Is that a black eye?" Reborn actually felt kind of bad until the child kicked him in the shins. "Was that supposed to hurt?" He smirked.

Miffed, Kyoya stomped his way to the kitchen. "Sawada Tsunayoshi, where are my snacks?"

A silver-haired teenager was already sitting at the dining table, gaping. "What the hell?!"

"Hayato, language!" Tsuna set a plate full of rice balls on the table. Kyoya snatched one before Hayato could take one. "This is Kyo-kun. Kyo-kun, this is Gokudera Hayato, my friend."

Kyoya kicked Hayato's chair when Tsuna wasn't looking. "Don't call me Kyo-kun," he hissed. The exorcist twitched.

"So you're the brat with the bullies," he said through gritted teeth. "Gee, with that bad attitude –"

"Hayato!"

"My sincerest apologies, Tsuna-sama!"

Later at the table, Reborn suggested training which Tsuna denied. "He's _six_," he had protested.

"Just tell an adult," Hayato threw in.

"Oh trust me, that never works," Tsuna muttered quietly with glazed eyes, lost in distant memories. Bullies were a universal thing.

Kyoya… never actually thought of that. He didn't have any trusted adults in his life, after all.

"I'll tell my teacher," he decided.

-.-.-.-.-.-

"_You stupid herbivore_!" Kyoya screeched the next day, and kicked Hayato as hard as he could. There was a notable bruise on one cheek.

"FUCK," Hayato howled and collapsed to the floor, clutching his leg.

Kyoya turned to an amused looking Reborn. "Heal me," he demanded.

Reborn obliged. "Oh Lord, heal this poor creature," he sniggered, patting his head. Tsuna slapped his arm, frowning at his amusement and also sighed at Hayato who was still rolling on the ground, cursing.

"So this is the kid?" Takeshi kneeled down to Kyoya's level. He grabbed his hand and shook it. "Yo! Call me Take-nii!"

"Never," Kyoya shot him down. Takeshi laughed and scratched his head.

"I heard about your situation," he said with a kind smile. The six year old glanced at Tsuna who held his hands up.

"He's the last person I told, really. Sorry," he said apologetically. The kid looked back at Takeshi.

"You know," the tall teen began. "I always thought just sitting down and talking it over always helps to smooth over any cracks in a relationship." He beamed.

-.-.-.-.-

"Kusakabe Tetsuya, I believe we should talk."

"Huh?"

"I know you believe yourself to be on the top of the food chain, but perhaps we should sit down and discuss any delusions you may have." A hand clasped onto a taller shoulder. "I worry for you Kusakabe. If you continue with these assumptions of your power, you will go down a hard road later in life." Kyoya smiled gently. Or tried to. It was more of a strange baring of teeth (he was not accustomed to smiling).

-.-.-.-.-

"You are all useless," Kyoya declared the next day. He looked frustrated. Reborn poked a cut on his knee which healed up instantly. "They're calling me a super freak now."

"I can't keep doing this," Reborn said with another poke. "It will look suspicious."

"Stop crowding!" Kyoya snapped at the others. Tsuna flinched back with an apology and a glare at Hayato who opened his mouth to yell. Takeshi looked at a loss of what to do.

Someone suggested an after-school protection program, but the child had his pride and shot that idea down. Reborn suggested scaring the bullies off/humiliating them/beating them up, but Tsuna denied this vehemently.

"They! Are! Kids!" he accented each word with a punch to his arm.

Kyoya stared at them all and face-palmed.

* * *

"_Alright kids! Now for the next carnivorous species – how scary is this?"_

Kyoya munched on some chips with a blanket over his shoulders. His bedroom was dark with only the television the only source of light. He leaned in interested when the screen changed and zoomed into a large bear crossing the river.

"_This is the grizzly bear! They mainly live in North America! Do you remember where that is? That's right!"_

The picture changed to a map of the world, a red circle over the western hemisphere.

"_Now the grizzly bear is really powerful. They are top of the food chain! They eat a lot of fruits and veggies, but also animals! They eat herbivores!"_

Kyoya frowned in disappointment when it didn't show any hunting scenes. "Boring," he complained under his breath.

"_Grizzly bears are fast. And dangerous! If you ever see a bear, never ever go near it, kids! Many careless people have gotten into accidents because they weren't careful!"_

"You mean they died." The overly preppy voice on the screen was getting on Kyoya's nerves.

"_Yes, bears are dangerous…. But nothing is more dangerous than a mother bear with cubs! That's right, kids. Grizzly bears are scary now, but they become even __**more**__dangerous when they have children to protect! When something gets between a mother and her cubs, the mother will do anything to protect them! Just like your mommy! When you have something to protect, you will be strong too like this crazy carnivore here!"_

"Something to protect huh," Kyoya muttered. He flipped the TV off with a yawn. Tomorrow was a Sunday, which was a relief. One day away from bullies.

-.-.-.-.-

The full impact of these words didn't hit Kyoya until later the next day. When he arrived at Tsuna's house, he was greeted by a serious looking Hayato who was worriedly talking to Tsuna and Reborn about something. He caught the words _'demon'_ and _'dangerous_' and _'escaped'_ and then decided it was probably just some freaky occult stuff.

"Tsunayoshi, snacks," he demanded, tugging on Tsuna's shirt. The brunette gave him a wobbly smile.

"Ah, of course," he said. Kyoya couldn't help but giving everyone weird looks. The atmosphere seemed strangely tense. Hayato was even dressed out in full priest regalia.

Kyoya blinked. "Is that cosplay?" he asked, pointing at him. The silver haired teen growled.

"It's my _job_," he said with a reddened face. The tense atmosphere dissipated as Reborn threw back his head to laugh. With a huff, Hayato grabbed a briefcase, gave Tsuna a bow, and left the house with a warning to be careful. _Careful of what?_ Kyoya thought to ask, but then forgot about it when Tsuna brought in some rice crackers.

"Do you want to spend the night?" he asked. Kyoya shook his head.

"I have school tomorrow," he replied. "And I don't have my stuff."

It was Reborn this time who spoke. "We can get your things and drop you off tomorrow." The boy looked at him in surprise, but the dark-eyed being was looking at Tsuna. Tsuna smiled back gratefully. "What's your parent's number?"

Kyoya shrugged. "It doesn't matter. They won't care," he said carelessly. Tsuna frowned at this and he reached over to pat him on the head in some vague comfort.

"Strange child," Reborn sighed. He grabbed Tsuna's arm. "Come on, we've got to…," he faltered, glancing at Kyoya, "….you know. Wards."

Tsuna's eyes widened. "Oh. Oh! Of course. Kyo-kun, can you stay in here and watch T.V.? Reborn and I will be outside. _Don't_ step out of the house, okay?"

The kid shrugged. Honestly. Those two were so weird. And they called _him _strange! Shaking his head, he grabbed a handful of crackers, heading towards the living room. He was just about to turn the television on when he heard the small noise.

Turning his head towards the window, he curiously looked outside to the direction of the noise. He dropped the crackers in hand when he saw a small cat-like creature staring back at him with large red eyes.

Hibari Kyoya had a weakness. And that weakness was small and cute animals.

The cat pawed at the window with a mew, tilting its head. It walked off, looking over its shoulders.

"Wait!" Kyoya called out. Ignoring Tsuna's instructions, he opened the front door and ran outside, chasing the creature. The cat was right in front of the house's gate. It gave a cute twitch of its ears. "Here kitty kitty…"

Kyoya stepped forward slowly, hoping not to scare it off. The cat gave a very sharp grin. And then several things happened at once.

Tsuna came running out from the backyard with a scream, "_Kyo-kun, don't touch it!_" and the cat bubbled into a dark mass that towered over the child. It looked like a mixture of different animals together. It had large bat wings with a lion's body and scorpion's tail, but the most terrifying was that its face was that of a human with thin lips twisting into a large grin full of fangs and small eyes set in a moon-like face.

For the first time in his life, Kyoya felt fear. The thing took a swipe at him and he scrambled back, but not quick enough as a sharp claw raked across his cheek, sending white-hot pain down his body. He cried out, hands over the wound.

Something grabbed him and Kyoya looked up to see Reborn, but he had large feathery-white wings over his shoulders and then they were flying on top of the house. They landed and Reborn quickly drew his gun in his hand, pointing it at the creature. But then his hands lowered. Reborn looked thunder-struck. Kyoya followed his gaze.

Tsuna looked… terrifying. At this point, Kyoya figured he and Reborn were not normal humans. Especially given of Reborn's wings and Tsuna's own appearance – leathery wings, tail, sharp claws, horns… but what sent shivers up his spine were his eyes.

Narrow eyes were burning a furious orange that actually glowed.

"_**I'm going to tear you to pieces**_," Tsuna (Tsuna…?) snarled in fury, and his voice carried with its deadly inflections. The other creature roared and charged at him – still with its weird creepy grin – but Tsuna flew over its head with impressive dexterity, grabbed its tail and actually _ripped it off._ The creature howled in pain. "_**You insolent animal. Do you know who I am? You have some nerve, crossing my territory and touching what's mine**_." He sneered, a strange sight on that usually gentle face.

And then Tsuna took that scorpion tail and stabbed the thing with it through its side, pinning it to the ground, splattering black blood. It clawed at the ground, gasping, and Tsuna put his hand on its head. Bright orange fire burst out from it, and the creature howled as it burned.

"Holy shit," Reborn said in amazement. It was almost funny with how uncharacteristically wide his eyes were.

"Wao," Kyoya agreed, stunned.

But nobody looked more stunned than Tsuna himself who blinked, eyes fading to a soft golden color.

He looked at his bloodied hands, then at the burning corpse several times. "…HIEEEEE," he finally shrieked and scrambled back. "Eh? EH? Did I…?" A slow grin crept onto his face as he took in the sight. His tail swaying furiously behind him, he whirled around to look up at the angel and child on the roof.

"And he's back," Reborn muttered.

"Did you see that? Reborn, did you see that?! I KILLED A MANTICORE. ME! KILLED A _MANTICORE_!" Tsuna jumped up and down, waving his arms excitedly. "_I KILLED A MANTICORE! A CLASS SSS HELL ANIMAL!" _

"I'm going to be sick now," Kyoya suddenly announced. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed in dead faint, the wound on his cheek turning purple.

Reborn cursed. "I forgot about that."

"K-KYO-KUN?!"

"SHUT UP DAME-TSUNA! YOU'RE THE ONE TO EXPLAIN TO THE NEIGHBORS AND CLEAN UP THIS MESS."

-.-.-.-.-

Hayato was naturally horrified. "I-I can't believe I missed it," he whispered. He bowed lowly to Kyoya who was lying on Tsuna's bed, recovering. "I apologize for my carelessness! To think my mistake could have killed a young child…." He burst into tears. "I'm so sorry, Kyo-kun!"

Kyoya threw an extra pillow at him. "Don't call me that!" Tsuna laughed and patted Hayato's back.

"Well, it's alright now, isn't it?" he soothed cheerfully. "A manticore is no small thing, Hayato. Even my kind of demon wouldn't battle one."

Awe-struck green eyes stared into amber. Hayato grabbed Tsuna's hands. "And to think you have defeated one! As expected of you, Tsuna-sama!"

"Ugh." Kyoya rolled away from them, pulling a blanket over his head. "_Noisy." _Earlier, it was finally explained to him the truth about Tsuna and Reborn's nature. The demon looked a little down, afraid that the child would hate him. But Kyoya had rolled his eyes and muttered out _thanks_, patting his fluffy hair with a blush. It wasn't really fear that he had felt when Tsuna killed the thing.

He thought Tsuna looked kind of cool, actually.

"Hey Loser-Kyoya!"

Kyoya walked faster, trying to ignore the other. He wasn't in a good mood. Along with the manticore's venom that Reborn wasn't able to get out ("_Just let it pass naturally_," he had said), he had noticed small things that he had never noticed before.

Stuff like how he wasn't the only one that Tetsuya bullied. There were a couple kids in other classes where he stole money from and pushed to the ground. Also, there were graffiti on some of the elementary school's walls that he had never paid attention to. Not to mention how the other children carelessly left trash littering the ground and hallways.

It bothered him.

"Hey! Don't ignore us, you freak!" One of Tetsuya's followers grabbed his shoulders, and forcefully turned him around. There were about four boys in total. Kyoya glared at them.

"Go away," he gritted out. One kid picked up a stick and poked him with it with a sneer.

"Where's our toll money?" Tetsuya demanded.

Kyoya snapped.

-.-.-.-.-

There are three kinds of victims.

The first one becomes angry at the world and takes their weakness out on smaller and weaker people, thus they too become bullies – creating an endless cycle.

The second victim becomes shy and withdrawn with low self-confidence. They go throughout their lives not believing in themselves unless some divine intervention happens to them (in an alternate universe, a certain hitman tutor smirked at his mafia student).

The third victim is the most dangerous. Their experience strengthens them. They turn their frustration into their weapon. They swear to themselves that they will change things, protect others like them and in the process, they change their weakness for the better.

In Hibari Kyoya's case, he decided Namimori had too many delinquents and not enough rules. _This town needs a protector_, he thought with manic glee. Tsuna had become terrifyingly strong when protecting Kyoya. The child would be strong protecting his town. _Not enough is done about these budding criminals. Crimes run rampant in the streets. Litter these beautiful Namimori streets. There's not enough discipline_. His eyes narrowed.

_Namimori is __**my **__territory._

_-.-.-.-.-_

"I will _bite_ you to death."

It was these infamous words that would begin a certain reign of terror.

"SENSEI! LOSER-KYOYA'S GONE NUTS!"

"OW OW HELP, MAMA!"

"_I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY KYO – _gah"

"HOLY COW WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH –"

-.-.-.-.-

In the aftermath of his rampage, Hibari Kyoya looked down at his beaten ex-bullies, eyes cold as steel. Four boys were on their knees at his feet, clearly terrified.

"Let's try this again," Kyoya said. He was tapping a stick in his hand. It was the same stick that was used to poke him earlier. It was also the same stick he used to help beat his classmates up.

One boy bravely stuttered, "W-we w-won't ever d-d-do it again, Kyo-" _Thwack._ _Thwack. _"–H-h-Hibari-san! I mean, Hibari-san!"

Kyoya nodded. "That's right," he narrowed his eyes. "It's _Hibari-san_ to you. Understand?"

The boys nodded, one letting out a tiny whimper.

The dark haired child slowly smirked. "Good. Starting today, I am forming a disciplinary committee." _Thwack._ "This town has too many herbivores crowding the streets, doing despicable things to its foundations." _Thwack._ "You four will help me." _Thwack._ "Reform yourselves for the better. Under my rule." _Thwack. _"Namimori is my territory and I won't let anyone desecrate it." _Thwack. _The stick suddenly pointed to them and the boys jumped.

"H-Hibari-san?"

Kyoya poked Tetsuya's hair. "I don't like it," he declared, eyes narrowing. "Today, all of you will get new haircuts."

"W-what? B-but!"

One look into his eyes and Tetsuya shut up. The next day, all four boys arrived to school with pompadours.

(Incidentally – about a month later – Kusakabe Tetsuya and Hibari Kyoya became best friends, though the latter won't admit it)

And peeking from a nearby corner was a white-haired middle school boy, wearing an awed expression. He had just witnessed everything. "_Extreme_," he whispered with fiery eyes.

* * *

Tsuna jumped in surprise. He was in the kitchen, preparing some snacks. "Kyo-kun? I didn't hear you come in."

"I came in through the window."

"What?!"

Kyoya strode in casually, a black jacket fluttering behind him. He looked pleased. Reborn, from where he was sitting at the dining table, snorted.

"Yo brat. Something good happen?"

The child was wearing a dark smile. It was the kind of smile that made one want to run far, far away. "Today, I have put myself at the top of the food chain," he said, arms crossing. Showing off a red armband around the jacket's arm.

"…Meaning…?"

Kyoya rolled his eyes. '_You're so stupid_,' that action expressed. "I beat some kids up. Formed a disciplinary committee – myself as leader." Tsuna dropped a plate and it shattered. "I'm going to take over Namimori," the kid added with a determined expression. This only made Tsuna go ghost-white.

"I see. Good job." Reborn ruffled his hair. He… was smirking. Proudly. _He was actually proud._ Tsuna's brain broke. Kyoya frowned at the frozen demon.

"Tsunayoshi, where are my snacks?"

"A-ah…"

* * *

EXTRA:

Tsuna dropped a pile of books in front of Reborn.

"What's this?" The angel sifted through them. Each title seemed to make his brow go higher up his head.

'_So Your Child Has Violence Issues?'_

'_The Daddy Know How'_

'_A Happy Relationship is a Happy Child!'_

'_Parenting for Dummies'_

'_How to Nurture, How to Listen'_

'_Raising a Child Full of Spirit'_

Reborn looked up at Tsuna for explanation. The demon was wringing his hands in distress. "I don't know where we went wrong," he quietly said in anguish.

"Hold on for a minute-"

"This is your entire fault!" Tsuna burst out, pointing at Reborn accusingly. "B-because you're always teasing me! Kyoya probably got the wrong idea on maintaining healthy relationships from us and – and –_ this is our fault!" _The demon buried his head into his hands with a muffled sob.

"O-oi, Dame-Tsuna-"

"His teachers are afraid of him! His classmates are afraid of him! _Gangs on the streets are afraid of him!"_

"Calm down-!"

"Did you know he bought himself a pair of tonfa yesterday? The police won't do anything about it!"

"The kid's a natural fighter…" Reborn admitted.

Tsuna slapped his face. Hard. "He caught _five _criminals!" he shouted. "He could have gotten _hurt_!" His face twisted when he saw Reborn's expression. "O-oops."

The angel grabbed his hands and tugged him closer. There was a tick mark on his face. "_Calm down and listen_," he said through gritted teeth. _Too close, too close_, Tsuna's mind screamed and he tried to tug out of the other's grip discreetly.

The sound of someone coughing brought their attention towards the entrance of the room. Kyoya looked at them and slowly backed away.

"Didn't mean to interrupt," he mumbled. "I'll just go back on patrol. Yeah."

The two stared at his retreating figure blankly. A few seconds of silence ticked by and Reborn said, "I really don't understand that child."

"Yeah…"

* * *

_A/N: Hibari is kind of hard to write. Hibari as a child is even harder. _

_So this is not, I repeat not, a harem. It will be strictly R27, though it's kind of slow building. I was aiming for that sweet togetherness kind of thing, not the instant lust. _

_In this fic, Hibari didn't have any adults to turn to and he watched a lot of television. That gave him some strange ideas on life. Also, an obvious development of Tsuna's fighting abilities! Reborn does make a good tutor. ^^ _

_A mixing of cultures here, sorry. I don't have much imagination when coming up with new animals so I kind of borrowed some mythical ones from other cultures (let's say Hell is a diverse place). A **manticore** is a Persian mythical man-eating monster. They are quite terrifyingly strong and they never stop smiling even in death. Tsuna always becomes stronger when he protects his friends.  
_

_How was this chapter? Good points? Bad points? Things to improve on? Feedback is always great!  
_

_Also, my chapters keep getting longer and longer... that's a good thing. Right? o_o_


	7. Chapter 7

_Warning: OOCness - but for a reason._

* * *

There once was a time when the sky was lit up with the burning light of falling angels. Down, down, down they went like falling stars– their wings burnt and broken, turning pitch-black from the corruption of their sins. Their once shining Grace became tattered and unholy and that transformation was as painful as the Fall itself.

The world they fell into was a place brimming with hatred and it consumed them. But they survived somehow. They lived. They bred. And time passed.

Once, there was an angel who loved a human.

Once, there was another angel whose avarice led to treason. _Come to Sheol. God has forsaken us here. _

Eons passed, and the old stories withered away to ashes, leaving behind only legends and mysteries. And a remnant. A little tiny remnant that hinted of _things_ much deeper than what things seemed.

Once upon a time, there was a curious demon.

* * *

_7_

_part i: the trip_

* * *

Hayato sweated heavily under Tsuna's hard gaze. Next to him, Kyoya had his hands shoved into his pockets and he was looking away, petulantly. Both of them looked extremely beat up with various wounds on their body. Tsuna crossed his arms, his narrowed eyes flashing orange. Slowly, his feet tapped.

Hayato broke like a dam under water.

"He's like a human GPS tracker!" he wailed, pointing at Kyoya as if accusing him of a crime. "I couldn't help it!"

Tsuna twitched and whacked him with a slipper, irritated. "You took him with you on an _exorcism?!_ You were supposed to be watching him!" Kyoya snorted and winced when Tsuna slapped _him_ with the slipper. "Kyo-kun, you're not blameless in this either!"

Hayato bowed, slamming his head to the ground. Tsuna rolled his eyes in exasperation, forcing him to stand back up. With the exorcist's personality, he had no choice but to get used to stuff like this.

"I'm so sorryyyy," Hayato cried. "But Tsuna-sama, listen! The bra – I mean, Hibari's spiritual sense is really incredible! He could find a demon a hundred miles away with pin-point accuracy and determine how dangerous it is!" His eyes became dreamy. "My reputation just sky-rocketed because of him…" Kyoya elbowed him hard, bringing the exorcist back to reality and to Tsuna's expression. He wisely shut his mouth.

Throwing his hands up in defeat, Tsuna groaned and wished for peace, just for a few days. "I can't trust anyone to watch Kyo-kun," he muttered despairingly. The parenting book he checked out from the library had talked about _boundaries _and _limits_ and he didn't think it was working.

He had only just found out, that while Hayato was watching Kyoya to make sure the kid didn't get into too much trouble with his committee, he'd taken him on an exorcism a couple miles away. Unfortunately for the duo, a bout of bad luck caused them to severely underestimate the spirit. Thus, they had some trouble exorcising an otherwise low-level spirit, and had gotten some injuries for their efforts.

This led to their predicament now. As it turned out, it was impossible to lie to Tsuna because of his Intuition. And Hayato couldn't lie to Tsuna without being obvious anyways.

The demon muttered something about stubborn children and went upstairs to retrieve the first-aid kit in the bathroom that he'd gotten just for the mortals.

Hayato waited until Tsuna passed the staircase. Very carefully, he leaned down to Kyoya's height and whispered, "He doesn't know about the haunted shrine thing, right."

Kyoya nodded and he sighed in relief. He subtly reached into his jacket and took out a silver, blessed cross, which Kyoya took just as subtly and quickly, shoving it into his pocket. They both straightened up when Tsuna came back in the room.

"At least it was only this once," he sighed as he bandaged them up.

They exchanged guilty looks above his head.

-.-.-.-

Right after Kyoya's establishment of the disciplinary committee was when summer vacation started. For the rest of that August, he prowled the streets, terrorizing criminals and citizens alike. His fighting skills improved in leaps and bounds too (which Reborn secretly gave him some tips on). Interestingly enough, his spiritual sensitivity also increased to an almost supernatural extent, of which Hayato had theorized something about the manticore venom triggering the latent ability he already had and the soul resonating with the venom's – Tsuna's mind had blanked out at this point.

Hayato hadn't been exaggerating when he said that Kyoya was like a human GPS tracker. Exorcists and spiritually sensitive humans could sense where supernatural "hotspots" were, but nobody could track it down to its very location like Kyoya could, or estimate its danger levels like him. This led to Hayato secretly taking the kid out whenever he had a job in the area.

Tsuna was pleased that the two was getting on so well. The truth was not as rose colored. You see, Hayato and Kyoya had a bro code, and as long as Tsuna was oblivious to their trips, then everything was fine. Kyoya gets some fighting experience and Hayato's job time gets cut down in half. Win-win, right?

Until Tsuna did find out. It was only the once, but still.

It did cement the fact that destruction was inevitable if Kyoya and Hayato were alone together.

Then there was the incident with the birthday party that was thrown for Hayato. And the destroyed gang that Takeshi thought was a game as he and Kyoya cheerfully stood over their fallen bodies.

Tsuna decided that although he really loved his friends, they were perhaps not the best people for babysitting.

(Actually, destruction was inevitable whenever Kyoya was near, but Tsuna liked to dream).

-.-.-.-

Anyways, the point is that the manticore incident was the first time that Tsuna let out his demonic power on Earth.

Shrouding rings were useful and all when wanting to hide a presence, but it couldn't hide a sudden influx of power. Especially a power like Tsuna's, which Reborn explained away somehow to his superiors. Nothing happened for the first few days and he relaxed a little until he got a call from Colonello.

"_Yo Reborn! A few of us are coming over around that area for purification."_

Reborn had to stop himself from hanging up right then and there. "…Why? I told you that it was fine. I handled everything."

He could practically see Colonello's rolling eyes. "_A manticore is still no small thing, kora. Lal wants to make sure everything is fine and besides, it's rare that a Class SSS was out and about. We need to make sure there's no foul play from the demons." _

"Hm. I see." Reborn had also been wondering about that. Hayato had told them that the manticore had arrived at Greece at first, creating some chaos, before some exorcists managed to capture and contain it. It escaped from its wards and traveled to Japan when Tsuna killed it. Still, a manticore usually stuck around the more desert-like areas. It was strange that one had gone out of their usual haunts when out of Hell.

"_Well it'll be a few days when we come. Besides, God was concerned and you know how He's like. Are you still in the area?"_

"Nope, just left," Reborn blatantly lied. He secretly made a face when Colonello mentioned God. Honestly, He was such a worry wart. "Well I'm going now. Stuff to do, thing to see. Tell God I said hi." He hung up to Colonello's angry protests and stared at his phone. "Damn it," he said. "OI, DAME-TSUNA! PACK YOUR BAGS. WE'RE GOING ON VACATION."

It was pretty fortunate that there was a cosplay event somewhere in Kyoto that he'd been planning on going to. This just gave him the excuse to drag Tsuna along too.

-.-.-.-

Tsuna refused to leave Kyoya in the hands of his two friends or leave the kid by himself with his indifferent parents and lonely house. Despite him managing to survive six years on his own, the demon still didn't want to leave him on his own. The child had the tendency to get strange ideas (ideas that led to sanity breakage for everyone).

He did, however, have a sweet and shy neighbor who liked kids. Rokudo Nagi was a pretty seventeen year old high school student that lived next door. She was also rather charmed by Kyoya ever since he beat down some guys harassing her and was happy to take him in for two days. Her older brother, Rokudo Mukuro, also seemed pretty capable and sensible too.

And there were not enough sane people in Tsuna's life for his liking.

* * *

_A few days later…._

"Oi, are you ready yet?" Reborn called out from the other side of their hotel's bathroom door.

Tsuna resisted the urge to sob. He was currently hiding in the back of their hotel's bathroom, curled up in a ball. He wanted to go home.

"No!" he said loudly and angrily. "I'm not coming out! Never, never, _never_!" He shrieked when the door flew off its hinges, revealing Reborn in all his glory.

Reborn, who was currently dressed in a rather extravagant pirate costume. He even switched out his fedora for a fancy tricorn, and Leon was wearing a little black handkerchief around his neck. The angel frowned.

"You forgot your accessories," he pointed out petulantly. Tsuna stared at the pile of leather assemble in front of him and teared up.

He wailed, "Why do I have to be dragged into your weird hobbies?!" He tugged at the black feathery fur collar of his flamboyant coat to prove his point. "This is so embarrassing!"

The sound of a gun cocking echoed in the bathroom. "Take it like a demon," Reborn said, eyes glinting. There was an evil smile on his face. "And hurry up, the competition is starting soon. _Now do it with your dying will._"

When Tsuna came out, he was wearing a long, tattered dark grey coat thing, lined with black fur at the collar and the ends of his sleeves. His pants were also black and rather tight with weird uncomfortable boots. Dark leather strips with silver buckles were wrapped around his thighs and his arms, and his hands were covered in dark gloves with retractable claws. He was in his true form too, adding to the dark and Goth-like image. It looked sinister. It looked evil.

It looked utterly ridiculous.

"What am I supposed to be," Tsuna grumbled in misery. He flinched when several humans laughed as they passed them to the cosplay hall. Blushing in mortification, he looked down, clutching his tail like security blanket.

"Demon," Reborn answered gleefully. He was smirking, that bastard. "Or a human's perception of a demon."

"No demon would be caught dead wearing this," Tsuna muttered.

"It doesn't matter." Reborn narrowed his eyes, dark and piercing. "We're going to enter that competition. And _win_."

"….You mean we're doing this because you want the prize _that_ badly?"

"Dame-Tsuna, it's the complete set of the Sweet Adventure manga. _All two hundred volumes of it._"

"Oh god."

-.-.-.-

They did win the competition, of course. This was Reborn after all.

Reborn kept a picture of him proudly posed with one hand on a stack of manga and the other on Tsuna's shoulder to prevent the demon from running away. Tsuna looked miserable and humiliated. It was glorious.

He would later frame the picture (with warded glass to prevent any _accidents_) and put it in the living room to display proudly, much to Tsuna's horror.

It wasn't a lie to say he did it just to see the demon's expression every time he passed it.

* * *

When they picked Kyoya up after their short two day vacation, the child had an odd expression. "That herbivore felt weird," he said to his guardians during dinner.

"Are you talking about Mukuro-san?" Tsuna curiously asked. "He was very nice, wasn't he, Reborn?"

The angel snickered. "A little weak-willed but amusing nonetheless," he replied. He was remembering the college student's expression when they had come to pick to the young Hibari up. The guy had bags under his eyes and jumped every time Kyoya smirked at him. When he saw Tsuna, he had brightened up as if an angel had descended from Heaven. Nagi had seemed confused at her brother's reaction, but it seemed she hadn't seen Kyoya's more cruel side.

The child pouted.

"He felt like Reborn but weirder," he said louder. The two beings prompted him to continue but Kyoya couldn't find any other way to explain the feeling that the artist had given him. The child also got the feeling that the angel and demon weren't taking him seriously enough.

Whatever it was, Hibari Kyoya didn't much care for the man who had helped baby-sit him. That man was wrong in all senses of the word. Broken and jagged like nothing else.

* * *

_part ii: babysitter_

* * *

_Normalcy is so overrated._

Mukuro's new neighbors were weird.

Granted, he'd only been in Namimori for about three days, after coming home from his summer trip to Italy. He'd decided to spend some time with his beloved sister before going back to college, and she had told him in an earlier phone call that their neighbors were some sort of film-makers. One of them had apparently come by, apologizing for a rather large monster fight scene that they were filming in front of their house a few weeks earlier.

But seriously. It didn't prepare him for how _weird_ they were.

"Mukuro-san!" the fluffy haired one called out, waving. Mukuro paused in his actions of opening the front gate to his house. Taking a deep breath, he slowly turned around with a forced smile.

"Ah, Tsunayoshi-kun," he said. "How are you?"

Tsuna beamed at him. "Great! I wanted to ask you –" An explosion rocked the ground and one of Sawada's second story windows flew off.

Both of them looked up and at each other awkwardly.

"Um," both of them started. Tsuna blushed and shut his mouth.

"Right," Mukuro mumbled. "I'm just – I have to leave now." He coughed and twitched at the sound of yelling coming from the house.

"_You stupid baseball freak! LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE."_

"_Maa, maa, calm down. At least it was only one window this time._"

The college student took another deep breath. "Haveagoodday," he said and rushed into his house.

* * *

Mukuro had a little complex. It wasn't a really bad complex he just… he just wanted to have a _normal_ and _peaceful_ life.

It probably had its roots in his childhood. With a name like Rokudo Mukuro, he was bound to be teased by it. Honestly, he wasn't sure what his parents were thinking. When asked, his mother only replied vaguely, _"The angel of death whispered it to my ears in a dream." _Child Mukuro had stared incredulously at her and then at his father who looked embarrassed. _"She was watching a lot of horror movies while she was pregnant_," he had explained, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "_Sorry, I couldn't stop her._"

It didn't stop him from petitioning for a name change when he was ten.

Well, what was done was done. Still, not only did his name mean _corpse_, his appearance was out of the norm with his oddly styled hair, heterochromatic eyes, and foreign features. Mukuro really got tired of explaining his heritage to everyone curious enough to ask. His father was half-Japanese, half-Russian. His mother was a full-blooded Italian. He actually lived in Venice for the first couple of years of his life, before moving to Japan where Nagi was born.

It wasn't too bad at first. Then the kids started taking more notice of his features and his peculiar laugh. That was when child Mukuro started being followed around and teased. "_You look like an anime character!_" his friends would say. _"You even laugh like one!"_

Middle to high school was hell. He somehow gained the moniker, 'Main-Character Mukuro' and whenever there was a new student, they'd always be seated next to him. He'd also been hounded by the anime club with registration papers and pleas to join. He was always casted as the villain in the class plays too.

Nagi had it easier, although she was also born with heterochromatic eyes, which his parents had exclaimed at. But her eyes were a fetching shade of violet that she'd inherited from their father, and her right one was only a few shades lighter than the left. Mukuro's right eye was full-out red to his left's blue. In a moment of romanticism, his mother had compared them to the brightest ruby and sapphire (Mukuro had replied that she was a horrible poet). The doctors of course, just said it was a pigment problem – nothing to worry about.

Except for a horrible nickname on Mukuro's part and a complex that lasted for most of his twenty-three years of life. At least it got better when he was accepted into university in the city.

He still desired that peaceful life, though.

* * *

The first clue that something was up was when he was stopped on the streets – he was just coming back from the airport – by some punk asking (read: demanding) for money. Before Mukuro could say or do anything, a kid with a ridiculous pompadour haircut had sauntered up and coldly told the guy to back off because he was breaking the rules.

The punk laughed until he saw the disciplinary badge pinned to the kid's jacket. His face had drained of all color, had apologized profusely to Mukuro, and begged the pompadour kid to not tell 'Hibari-san'.

It was weird.

Then the next morning, he woke up early in the morning because of the sound of gunshots ringing in the air. Nagi had, had to calm him down by explaining that their new neighbors tended to do that and it was nothing to worry about.

That was weirder.

Later that day, he actually met them. There was a dangerous looking guy that looked around his age, if not a few years older. He looked like he belonged in the mafia (what kind of person wears a real fedora in this day and age? Not to mention that weird reptile of his that keeps staring creepily at him). Then there was the smaller one who was mostly casually dressed, a stark contrast to his companion. That guy, more like boy, looked like he should be in middle school or something. He was really short.

Mukuro didn't completely buy into their film-maker story either. For one, he saw Fedora Man chasing Mister Fluffy down the street, cackling, while shooting at him. With a real gun. Nagi had laughed at him when he told her, but he'd seen and handled a gun before (at a shooting range) _and that was a real gun. _Or at least he was ninety percent sure. Nobody else seemed concerned though.

Not to mention the various sounds of screams and explosions that came from their residence. Mukuro had hesitantly asked Nagi if the sounds bothered her, but she had only smiled and reassured him that it was normal, and started gushing about a 'Hibari-kun' who was really brave and adorable.

He'd gotten a bad feeling about it.

* * *

Oh god. They were in his house. _They were in his house._

"Oya, Tsunayoshi-kun! This is a surprise," Mukuro said with forced cheer. An unwelcome surprise, that is. Fedora Man smirked at him as if he knew what he was thinking.

Nagi smiled shyly at him. "Reborn-san and Tsuna-san are going on a trip," she explained. "I agreed to watch Hibari-kun for them."

'Hibari-kun' turned out to be a little kid who was currently giving him the stink eye from his position next to Tsuna. Mukuro normally liked kids. He had the feeling he wouldn't have the same sentiment toward this one.

"Nice to meet you," he said with a nod and friendly smile to the child. Hibari bared his teeth viciously in return. Mukuro's smile became strained. He resisted the urge to snarl when Nagi starting to speak.

"Hibari-kun saved me when some guys were bothering me," she said quietly with a blush. She gave the brat an adoring look. "He was very cool."

"How… noble," Mukuro got out through gritted teeth. Fedora Man – sorry, _Reborn – _actually turned his head to the side, shoulders shaking with mirth. Tsuna frowned at the brat.

"Be nice," he scolded and the brat turned away with a quiet _tch_. Tsuna smiled apologetically to Mukuro. Fedora –_Reborn_, wrapped his hand around Tsuna's arm.

"Right," he said with another smirk to Mukuro. "Well, we're going now." He started pulling towards the door and a worried look crossed Tsuna's face.

"Wait!" He dug his heels in and looked beseechingly at the Rokudo's. "Kyoya is an independent child. Just make sure that Kyo-kun doesn't go off by himself! He likes to beat up gangs and he _knows_ he can't do that alone."

….What? Mukuro blinked. "Could you clarify – "

Reborn rolled his eyes and pulled harder, and Tsuna clutched at the door frame.

"No matter what he tells you, Kyo-kun can't go on patrol after eight o-clock! Make sure he eats his vegetables too. He has a problem with that -" Sighing, Reborn picked him up and threw him over his shoulder. He bumped fists with Hibari before heading out with a nod to the Rokudo siblings. "_Let me go, Reborn! I can walk!"_

There was silence. Then –

"God, they're so _weird_," Mukuro said. Nagi looked amused and the brat gave him a death glare.

-.-.-.-

"….Is there something on my face?" Mukuro tried not to flinch at the child who had been staring intensely (creepily) at him for the past fifteen minutes as they ate dinner. Nagi had finished earlier and was cleaning up in the kitchen.

Hibari looked away for the first time, at the cup of water in his hand. Mukuro watched as he shook salt into the cup and said, "Bless this thy water," and threw it at the older man's face.

The man sat stunned and blinking liquid out of his eyes as the kid quickly unscrewed the salt shaker's cap and dumped it over his head. Hibari looked a little confused when Mukuro just gaped, but then he shrugged and muttered something about needing a real priest.

Then he politely gathered up his plates and walked out of the room.

-.-.-.-

"Hey kid, you can take a shower now if you – how'd you find that?"

On the college student's bed perched the brat flipping through an old sketchbook of his. "Not bad for an herbivore," he said (which was the best and only compliment he would ever give to Mukuro) and paused at a drawing of a vicious looking demon. It was a manticore that Mukuro had doodled after reading up some myths.

Blustering and blushing, the man fluttered around feeling flattered. "Oya oya, well I _am _an art student after all, kufufuf-" He abruptly stopped laughing with a hand over his mouth.

It was one of his greatest embarrassments actually. Old memories of 'Main-Character Mukuro' went through his head. He cleared his throat.

"It's just a collection of old drawings," he said and his lips quirked when he saw the kid staring glazed at the manticore drawing. It was kind of cute, forgetting what happened at dinner. "Do you like it?"

His smile dropped when Hibari completely ripped out the drawing and tore it up.

"I'm going to take a shower," the brat announced, getting up and throwing the pieces down.

_Calm….calm…. _Mukuro breathed. _He's a kid…. Just a kid…._

-.-.-.-

The next morning had Nagi asking Mukuro to watch Hibari for a couple of hours while she went to the grocery store to pick up some items on sale. He loved his sister so he agreed, but he was starting to regret it, especially when he was dragged outside for 'patrolling' as Hibari had put it.

"_What are you doing?!_" he shrieked, trying to pull the kid off the man he was beating up. Hibari ruthlessly kicked the guy one more time before turning around and slapping away Mukuro's arm.

"Littering is against the law," Hibari explained coldly. "Those who disobey the rules will get bitten to death."

Mukuro stared at him with wide eyes. "Are you _insane_," he finally managed. Also, how was a six year old able to beat up a man more than a decade older than him?! On which, why was he carrying around tonfas? That was illegal. Right?!

He started panicking even more when a patrol cop came over to see what was going on.

A feeling of trepidation entered him when the officer took one glance at Hibari and dramatically paled.

"It won't happen again, Hibari-san," the cop blubbered, dragging away the downed man. The look of fear on both their faces did nothing to soothe Mukuro's soul.

Or the way other passerby's looked away, pretending not to see anything.

"I rule Namimori," said Hibari with a condescending expression. He looked like a tyrant king looking down upon his subjects.

Mukuro shuddered and inched away.

-.-.-.-

"Why are we running?" he wailed. He wasn't the most athletic person, damn it! He reeled over, panting and groaning at the burn in his chest. He was really out of shape. But he was an artist! Artists don't need exercise!

"It's not running," Hibari snapped and pulled on Mukuro's clothes. "It's retreating. Now _retreat_."

Behind them was a boy followed by a blur of dust. "WAIT," the boy howled and Mukuro and his charge ran faster. "JOIN MY BOXING CLUB LITTLE MAN!"

Mukuro 'eeped' pitifully and pulled Hibari into a hidden niche. "_Who the hell is that?!"_ he whispered harshly as the boy passed them with a _'to the extreme!' _He normally wouldn't cuss around children but he had already resigned himself to the fact that Hibari Kyoya was not a normal child.

The brat had a grim expression. "Sasagawa Ryohei," he replied in a tone of doom. And slightly more terrified, he added, "Third year Namimori Middle School student. Boxing club captain." He shuddered. "His little sister is in my grade."

Then he realized Mukuro's arm was still protectively around his shoulder so he promptly tonfa'ed him in the gut and sashayed out of their hiding place.

-.-.-.-

Why is the Momokyokai yakuza trying to kill us?" asked Mukuro. He shifted warily, keeping the men surrounding them in his view. He breathed slowly, trying to stop himself from delving into hysterics.

"That brat beat up one of our own," one of them growled and the artist gave the child a disbelieving look.

"He's six," he said weakly.

Hibari snorted. "They're weak herbivores." He looked blood-thirsty. The men tensed and then started as the atmosphere suddenly turned cold.

Mukuro had enough of this.

He burst out into hysterical laughter as if he just lost his mind. "Kufufufu!" he chuckled and even the child was staring at him in befuddlement. Smirking, the artist gave them a cold glare. "As expected of yakuza. Ganging up on a poor babysitter and their charge." He sneered at them and his body shifted into a relaxed and lazy posture.

One of the men drew out a knife. "Shaddup," he snarled and his friend cracked his knuckles. "How 'bout this kid apologizes and pays for damages, huh? He's a Hibari. Hibari's can pay for everythin'."

There was a dark smile etched on Mukuro's face. His red eye flashed ominously and the men felt a sudden thrill of fear. Some of the crowd inched away muttering.

"Are you forgetting about me?" His white teeth glinted as he tilted his head. "I might have been acting weak this entire time, but I have a power that can take you down. All of you."

It sounded corny, but with Mukuro's eerie smile and dark expression, the men couldn't help but edge away. Even Hibari tensed as he gave his babysitter a wary look. The atmosphere around him… it was completely different than before when all Mukuro was doing was trying to be responsible. It was as if he were a different person. This man would slit your throat in your sleep and laugh about it.

"Yeah?" one Momokyokai tried. "And what's this power huh?"

Rokudo Mukuro smirked once more and held out his hand making some of the men jump. And then…

And then he had Hibari under one arm as he barreled past the crowd of surprised men.

"MUKURO ESCAAAAAAPE!" he screamed as he ran.

"What are you doing?!" Hibari struggled.

In an act of athletic ability that he never had before, Mukuro jumped over a wall and scrambled around a corner. "You _stupid_ brat," he snapped with a hand over the child's mouth. "They're yakuza, they probably have a gun!"

"Your special ability?" Hibari commented dryly around the hand.

Mukuro snorted. "Distraction. I have no fighting skills what-so-ever – I'd probably die there. And Nagi-chan would cry if _you_ died." He hoisted them up a fire-escape. "Not to mention my lack of stamina." He threw Hibari on his back and started climbing and swung them up on a roof. "_I'm an artist, not a fighter!_" he protested and pressed them both down low on the roof. Peeking out from the edge, he sighed in relief as the Momokyokai passed without even seeing them.

He looked at the kid beside him who was staring at him oddly. "You and I – we need to have a talk. A _lecture_," he said. "First things first – _what kind of idiot picks a fight with yakuza….?!" _

_-.-.-.-_

"I found you!"

"Shit," Mukuro cursed. In front of them stood the boy from before – Ryohei. Hibari made a terrified noise beside him (he would deny this later).

"Extreme little man," the middle-school student excitedly took a step forward with fiery eyes. "Join my boxing club!" Before he could say another word, there was another interruption.

"I found you!" The Momokyokai from before surrounded them with angry expressions. "I'll _kill_ you."

"Double shit," Mukuro muttered. His eyes were blown wide with fear.

He was going to die in a dirty street, surrounded by these _crazy _people thanks to this _insane _kid. No – not insane. This kid was a _demon._ He looked up and glared at the sky. _Who the hell did I piss off in my past life to have a fate like this?!_

Ryohei scowled. "Hey!" he protested. "That's not very extreme!"

The Momokyokai scowled back. "Who the fuck are you?" he snarled. "Leave kid. We only have business with these two." He took out a gun.

Instead of fleeing and calling the police like any normal and sane person, the boxer's eyes fired up and then he was roaring and charging into the crowd of dangerously armed men.

Hibari took the cue and jumped in after him. "_I'll bite you all to death_," he hissed, tonfas shining.

Mukuro only sunk to the ground as a teenager and a child took on a yakuza gang armed with guns and knives – and _won._ "Nothing makes sense anymore," he whispered with blank eyes and hugged his knees to his chest. _"_This town's gone nuts while I was gone."

There was a flash of fists and tonfa and then there were only bodies piling up around him.

"TO THE EXTREME!" Ryohei roared. One man reached for Mukuro with a pitiful whimper for help.

"I want to go back to college," Mukuro cried.

-.-.-.-

"Nii-sama?! Where did all these bruises come from?"

"N-Nagi-chan…."

-.-.-.-

He couldn't even have any peace while sleeping.

Mukuro woke up because he couldn't breathe well. Muttering, he tried to roll over to find that he couldn't. There was some kind of weight on his chest. Groaning, he opened his eyes, letting them adjust to the darkness of his room, only to come face-to-face with Hibari Kyoya who was sitting on his chest and holding a silver cross over his head.

The kid was blank-faced and pressed the cross harshly to his throat.

"In the name of the Lord," he said tonelessly.

Mukuro screamed.

-.-.-.-

"Did you sleep well?" Nagi asked in concern, pressing a hand to his cheek. Mukuro mumbled something and leaned in.

"I don't think I make a good babysitter," he said, wrapping his arms around his sister. "Children are evil. _Evil. _Don't leave me alone again, Nagi-chan_._"

Nagi patted him on the back. "Really, nii-sama. It was only for a few hours. I thought Hibari-kun liked you well enough." Mukuro peeked over her shoulder at the six year old who was sitting innocently on the couch, watching T.V. Noticing his stare, the brat looked back and _hissed._

Shuddering, the artist gave a little whimper and looked away in defeat.

"Is this because of your nightmare last night?"

_It wasn't a nightmare!_ Mukuro wanted to scream. He had the feeling Nagi would just smile consolingly though so he didn't say anything.

-.-.-.-

"Nagi-san?" Tsuna popped in with a smile. "I'm here to pick Kyo-kun up." It was like a sound of heavenly music to Mukuro's ears.

"Here," the brat said and clutched at Tsuna's sleeve. The brunet picked him up and handed him to Reborn who looked disgruntled. "I hope he wasn't too bad."

There were a lot of things Mukuro wanted to say. "He ripped up my drawing" to "The police are afraid of him" even "He almost got me killed" but most importantly, "He tried to _exorcise _me last night."

"He's a precocious child," he finally said with a deceivingly light tone. The child was a demon. The devil himself. It was only for two days, but two days was enough.

-.-.-.-

Mukuro hummed cheerfully. "Kufufu," he laughed. "I'm going back to school~" He threw the last object inside his suitcase and bounced downstairs.

"Don't forget to call home," Nagi said miserably. Normally Mukuro would be depressed too, but he only gave her a short hug and a kiss to the head.

"Oya oya! Don't give me that look, Nagi-chan. It's not like I'll be gone forever; I'm leaving tomorrow anyways, so let's celebrate today!"

Hopefully, he would be gone for a long time though. He was already relishing the thought of the return of his normal, slightly stressful, but un-chaotic life without any weird neighbors and demonic brats. Just term papers and boring professors.

It was an optimistic thought.

(The stars sing for him, but he does not hear)

* * *

Nagi smiled softly as she peeked into her brother's room. It was night now, and he was sleeping peacefully, the previous day's worries wiped from his face. He looked like a little child, innocent and sweet.

"My, now isn't this a sight," a voice murmured behind her.

Gasping and quickly turning around, Nagi pressed a hand against her chest to try to calm her rapidly beating heart. Her breath hitched at sight of the intruder. In front of her was a tall man with shaggy white hair and moon glasses perched delicately upon his nose. He was wearing some sort of pale robes and his mouth was curled into a gentle smile.

"_You,_" Nagi hissed, her eyes widening fearfully. She stood in front of Mukuro's bedroom door protectively. "What are you doing here?!"

The man laughed softly. "Ah, don't be so cold!" He reached out and Nagi flinched away.

"A-"

He held up one pale hand. "Stop. I go by Kawahira now." Nagi's mouth thinned and the man continued, "I just wanted to check up on my favorite soul for old time's sake." He grinned. "I never thought a Vongola and Archangel would move in next door."

The girl's eyes filled with confusion. "What?"

"Oh? You didn't know? I'm talking about your neighbors. Who would have thought. A demon and an angel." Kawahira added quietly, "Fate works in funny ways."

Nagi gnawed at her bottom lip worriedly as she thought about them. Tsunayoshi and Reborn. She knew that they were different – she knew that the demon from a month ago was real. She could not be fooled. But… a Vongola. She guessed this was Tsuna; sometimes, she caught glimpses of orange eyes that she never really thought about it until now.

"That's not why you're here," she whispered. "What's the real reason?"

There was a flicker of something dark in Kawahira's eyes. "I thought I should warn you," he replied softly. "It seems someone has gotten a little too curious for their own good. _That guy_ is waking up."

A sob built up in Nagi's chest at that revelation and she clenched her teeth together to prevent it from escaping. Her breaths were shaky and her hands were balled into tight fists. "…This has nothing to do with us," she finally said. "Leave."

"You'd leave them to their fates."

"Leave!" Nagi shouted, eyes wild. "Away with you! Begone_, Azrael!_"

The Angel of Death smiled. "As you wish. But you will see me again." Wings of moonlight and scattered stars spread out, and then Nagi was left standing alone in front of her brother's room.

There was a murmur. "Nagi-chan…?" Mukuro sleepily called out.

She smiled shakily as she faced her brother. "It's nothing," she said. "Sorry, nii-sama. Go back to sleep."

"Hm, alright." The man's voice faded out as his breath evened out, falling back to his dreams. Nagi watched him sleep once more for a moment before closing his door, quietly.

She padded away to her own room, face determined. _This time_, she swore to herself, _this time, I will __**protect **__you._

* * *

THE ROOM OF RECORDS

Lambo Bovino looked up from his work for the first time in four centuries.

"My my, it's been a while, hasn't it?" He tapped the tip of his quill against his curling lips.

Daemon Spade laughed. "Ah, it has. You've been buried in these dusty old tomes. Literally." He looked around distastefully at the books around him.

Lambo blinked and looked around. "Oh dear. It's gotten quite messy in here." He fussed around the papers on his desk before blinking again. "I'm sorry. Who are you, again?"

"What?!" Daemon twitched. "It's _me._ Daemon!" Lambo just stared blankly and the melon-headed demon slumped.

"Forget it. I need you to look up something for me."

Spinning in his chair, Lambo stuck his tongue out. "Nyee, nyee, what's the magic woooord~" Suddenly he stopped, almost falling from his chair. "A disturbance in the Force…" he whispered. Daemon waited patiently. "Hakuna Matataaaa~ It means no worries~" Lambo shook his head. "No, no, no, wrong movie."

He looked at Daemon, as if remembering there was another person in the room.

"Are you done?" Daemon inquired, crossing his arms.

"…Who are you again?"

He took a deep breath, counted to ten in his head, and slowly released. "What is Abyssus?" he bluntly asked.

There was a sudden stillness to the air. Daemon took a step back when the Bovino's glazed green eyes suddenly became sharp and piercing.

Eccentric as he was, Lambo Bovino was still a dangerous demon.

"My, my, my. Where did you come across _that_ word?"

Daemon scowled. "Just answer the damn question."

"Hmm." Lambo tilted his head and rocked his chair back and forth. "Hmm, hmm, _hmmm_." One eye closed lazily as he peered at the other. He slowly smiled. "What a curious little thing you are," he drawled. "They say curiosity killed the cat."

"-And satisfaction brought it back. I have no time for your inane games, Bovino."

"Mean….. Sorry. Who are you again?"

"DAEMON. IT'S ME, DAEMON SPADE. YOU KNOW? ONE OF KING GIOTTO'S INNER COURT MEMBERS."

"King…. Giotto? Giotto? Who's that?"

"I hate you. I hate you so _goddamn_ much."

Lambo's eyes welled up in tears and he turned away to bury his face into his desk. "Waaaa! Why are you so mean? I want Tsuna! Where is Tsuna?"

"You remember Tsunayoshi, but not Giotto?!"

The Bovino demon faced him with sparkling eyes and a cute expression. "He was a kind youngling," he sniffed in remembrance. He clasped his hands together in front of his face as if in prayer. "He always brought me grape candy and little bits of stories he would find lying around… He'd always sneak down here for stories and play…" He scowled suddenly. "He was totally not like that brat of his brother that would pull my tail and track mud and blood all over the place."

_Is he talking about… Giotto…?_ Daemon snorted at the thought of little Giotto acting like a spoiled brat. He turned around to leave with a condescending wave of a hand. "Forget it. I'm out. You're useless as always."

He choked as a hand suddenly wrapped itself around his neck and slammed him into the wall. He cringed as a cloud of dust rained down on his head.

Lambo was inches away from his face with a wild expression. "_Do not_," he breathed and squeezed. Daemon clawed at the hands around his throat. "_Do not look deeper than what is necessary. Curiosity is a dangerous, dangerous thing, my lord." _He let go, sitting on his desk lazily. One green eye twinkled merrily and he giggled. "You know, the humans have a saying."

Daemon was on the ground gasping, rubbing at the bruise on his neck. "A-and…?" The other eye opened and bright green orbs stared eerily down at him. Lambo was smiling.

"_If you gaze long into an abyss_," he quoted, "_**the abyss will gaze back into you**_."

* * *

_A/N: Lambo looks like his 20YL self in this, by the way. Well, for most of the time._

_I had some trouble with this chapter because of some sudden writer's block. _

_Also, I finally managed to make a timeline for this. :D I probably have to change Tsuna's and Giotto's age now... I should have made that timeline sooner damnit. Anyways, so the interlude from last chapter? Pretend it happened after summer break. So there. _

_If you don't understand Mukuro's nickname... there's a joke that if a character in an anime had weirdly colored hair or eyes, then he/she will be the **main**_ **character. **_School was a terrible time for him. Mukuro gained a slight paranoia of becoming a 'main character'. _

_This chapter was rushed, I apologize. I should probably get a beta reader. _

_Anyways, feedback and constructive criticism always appreciated!_

_EDIT: Holy crap, I just realized Kawahira is spelled Kawahira not Kawahiro. That's embarrassing. Fixed now._


End file.
